Work at Takoradi Harbour begins
Work began in earnest last Monday to evacuate hundreds of undelivered containers at the Takoradi Harbour in the Western Region to the newly constructed Inland Clearing Depot, also known as the Takoradi Container Terminal (TACOTEL), situated in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis.
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So far, about 289 containers have been transported to the new base. Agents or owners of the containers in question are required to present the necessary documents to the authorities in charge in order to take delivery of their goods.
Processes to decongest the Takoradi port of undelivered shiploads of consignments began on April 7, with the requirement that owners of the shipments would make time and take delivery of their properties.
Fresh containers/Custom decision
According to management of the port, henceforth, containers arriving fresh at the harbour would be evacuated and sent straightaway to the TACOTEL, which is about six kilometres away from the harbour.
Mr Richmond Adjei-Appiah, the Terminal Manager of the TACOTEL, who conducted newsmen round the terminal, said contrary to expected disturbance in traffic flow of shipments, "everything has gone on smoothly since Monday".
Shipping agents and clients were seen busily checking for their containers as transport vehicles stood on standby ready to carry their containers away.
Mr Adjei-Appiah said officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) were in charge of devanning or unstuffing of containers for inspection at the terminal.
"They take the final decision in respect of devanning or unstuffing of containers that arrive at the terminal. We have also held a stakeholders meeting to inform our clients of the new arrangement and requested that they come over to the TACOTEL for their consignments," he saId.
Scan facility
The manager of the terminal said arrangements were underway to have a scanning machine installed at the terminal but until then authorities would follow the normal procedures of unstuffing containers.
He said customers would be attended to both day and night with the objective of facilitating faster clearing of containers from the terminal.
According to Mr Adjei-Appiah, unlike other areas where clearing containers were done only in the night, "our clients are assured of a quick clearance procedure and there is a generator that provides power in case of cuts in electricity”.
Background
The TACOTEL is an initiative of Ibistek Company, a private investment firm, and is estimated to cost $65 million on completion.
Construction works for the facility began in April last year, and has the capacity to take up about 7,500 containalised cargo.
The second phase of the project is expected to cost about $350 million. It would comprise the construction of arterial roads in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis to ease traffic to and from the terminal and a railway line from the Takoradi Harbour to the terminal to facilitate easy transportation of cargo between the two centres.
The TACOTEL, described as a huge investment initiative in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, was funded by Cal Bank Limited and executed by Justmoh Construction Limited.