For the third time since the oil discovery in Ghana, Takoradi Port has recorded more vessel calls than Tema Port, providing a rationale for the ongoing €357million-dollar expansion project there.

The port recorded 1,525 vessel calls in 2015 as against 1,514 calls at Tema Port, due mainly to the increasing number of vessels servicing the oil and gas industry.

For the first quarter of this year alone, 391 vessels have called at the port as against 315 in 2015, with 61% being offshore related.

Takoradi’s larger vessel numbers began in 2011, when it recorded 1,798 calls against 1,667 by Tema Port; a feat that was repeated the following year with 1,664 vessel calls as against 1,521 for Tema Port.

An expansion project has been underway since November 2014 to reclaim some 53 hectares of land so that the port can handle larger vessels and about 100,000 metric tonnes of cargo.

The project involves dredging, extension of the breakwaters, constructing of a new oil and gas jetty, and bulk container terminals.

Mr. Peter Amoo-Bediako, Principal Marketing and Public Affairs Officer of the port, told the B&FT that before the discovery of oil in 2007, the port recorded between 500 and 600 vessels annually, made up of mostly commercial vessels.

Since the discovery of oil, however, the percentage of supply vessel calls has increased from just 11% in 2007 to 60% in 2015 peaking in 2012 with 63%.

Out of the 1,525 calls to the port in 2015, 910 representing 60% vessel calls were offshore related.

“These are indications that the vision of becoming a world-class port and a dominant one in the industry along the West Coast of Africa is steadily bearing fruit,” Mr. Amoo-Bediako said.

Certain strategic measures, he explained, have been implemented with the private sector to attract oil and gas cargo through the port.

Projects implemented and initiated include the installation of a 1,020 cubic metres (cbm/day) capacity desalination plant, dredging of the Viking berth from -3.5 Chart datum (cd_ -9cd, Takoradi Port and Goil 12,000metric tonnes (mt) Marine Gas Oil (MGO) gas tank farm, 26,000 square metre (sqm) Bajfreight storage area, Subsea7 fabrication yard, 10,000sqm General Electric (GE) fabrication yard and storage area, among others.

With the TEN project coming on-stream, even more vessels are expected to call at the port for supplies to offshore Cape Three Points to facilitate operations.

The port also recorded some increases in cargo handling in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period 2015.

Imports rose 18% as a result of increases in the volumes of ammonium nitrate, wheat and clinker.

Exports also recorded a 52% increase as a result of increases in cocoa beans, bauxite and manganese exports, while transit traffic recorded a 168% increase due to traffic to neighbouring Burkina Faso.