Maritime trade rises to 17.13m tonnes
The volume of goods shipped through the country's two seaports increased by 7.97 per cent to 17.13 million tonnes in 2016, in spite of a 16.8 per cent decline in transit trade.
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The development was also in spite of a two per cent decline recorded in the fourth quarter of the year, which was the outcome of the 2016 general elections — the elections caused most traders to fast track or hold on to their cargoes until the elections were decided.
The growth was influenced by corresponding increment in exports and imports.
The cargo throughput comprised some 12.05 million tons of imports and 5.55 million tons of export.
Data from the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) showed that imported items recorded an increase of 3.19 per cent from 11.68 million tons in 2015 to 12.05 tons in 2016.
Total exports for 2016 also increased by 26.91 per cent from 4.37 million tons in 2015 to 5.54 million tonnes in 2016.
The data revealed that Tema Port handled over 70.3 per cent of the total trade, corresponding to over 13.0 million tons while the Takoradi Port handled the remaining 5.5 million tons.
Total transit/transshipment trade volume for 2016 shows a decrease of 16.8 per cent from 1.08 million metric tonnes in 2015 to 900,763 in 2016.
Sustaining trade
GSA in its quarterly maritime Journal Shipping Review explained that the country sustained its maritime trade performance last year amid weaker-than-expected global economic conditions and weak commodity price.
The data also revealed that although the last quarter of 2016 recorded a 2.0 per cent decline in seaborne trade volumes, which could be attributed to the 2016 general election, the country seaborne trade volume increased by 7.9 per cent in 2016 over 2015 operational year.
Last year saw the world’s largest economy, China, focusing more on services and importing less raw materials from the rest of the world which triggered a fall in commodity prices.
China’s role in world merchandise trade is predicted to diminish further if the Tran Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China, is approved.
The United Kingdom leaving the European Union (EU) was also another global development which created some uncertainty on the container shipping market in 2016.
The resultant weak demand, coupled with the oversupply of new tonnage, brought down freight rates on the major trading routes. Unfortunately, shippers in Africa have not benefited much from these low freight rates.
Shipping lines mitigate
In an effort to deal with the low freight rates, carriers implemented measures including cascading, idling, slow steaming, and wider consolidation, integration and new alliances.
Some shipping lines decided to mitigate their low earnings by introducing what they termed as Terminal Handling Charges (THC) at destination, especially on the African continent.
However, shippers in West Africa, particularly Ghana, rigorously opposed the THC because, according to them, they had always paid an all-in freight charge, and there was no new service to warrant the THC.
It is hoped that shipping lines will deal with the fundamental issues of over-supply of tonnage rather than the imposition of surcharges on already burdened shippers in Africa as a way of shoring up their earnings. —GB
