The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) says it expects revenue generated from the country’s ports to fall by 30% this year.
Speaking on Asaaseradio.com, the Director-General of GPHA, Michael Luguje said, “All our expectations have been revised by 25% to 30% for the targets for this year in terms of revenue, volumes…”
Luguje said, “…throughout the lockdown all cargoes that were blocked in the ports couldn’t come out… They occupied our space and attracted a lot of huge charges in terms of rent but of course, the government had to request that we waive that…and all those things impacted on our projected revenues for the year.”
In January, Michael Luguje had projected that in 2020 cargo volumes are likely to surge as both Tema and Takoradi Ports have positioned themselves as transhipment and oil and gas services hubs respectively.
“We are looking forward to doing better. This is because Terminal 3 is going to attract more business in 2020. We think that our ports themselves are well-geared to do much more than the previous years. Takoradi is also going to do more in the oil and gas services,” he said.
The DG of GPHA, who appeared on Eye on Port’s panel discussion said the Port Authority has made major investments to enable Ghana’s ports to serve as an incentive for the facilitation of intra-African trade, following the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.
“We have positioned our ports for global trade. And while we do that, we also are looking forward to more intra-African trade going maritime,” he disclosed.
But six months down the line and the dynamics have changed due to the impact of the coronavirus disease causing a review of GPHA’s targets for 2020.
Luguje is however optimistic things will turnaround, “…Now that we are entering the phase of coronavirus where the world realizes that we just have to live with it and manage it, industries are coming back, production is resuming, hopefully, we might be able to catch up for the year…”
Port charges
He said there will not be any increase in port charges during this period, adding that will make the country’s ports not competitive.
“The ports are just platforms for trade and any increase in charges affect the overall competitiveness of your ports and also your economy because the goods go into your markets to be sold at prices that must reflect on the cost of logistics. If you are exporting too, your exports must be competitive in the international market so any increment in your port charges will reflect.
“So the fact that we have challenges with coronavirus is not meant to let us want to increase charges,” he said.
