The calm worries at the port of Tema following the operation of the container terminal in July

Company News of Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-02-05

The Port of Tema remains calm in the face of possible job losses following a notification from the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GHAH) that some domestic container depots (DICs) will no longer receive shipments when the new Terminal Three project (T3) will be finished. opened for business in July of this year.

On January 11, 2019, the GPHA held a meeting with DCI operators to discuss, among other things, how the new terminal developed by Meridian Port Services (MPS) on a public / private partnership basis would work.

It has been established that terminals such as Africa Coastal Services (ACS), Overseas, Global, Tema Bonded Terminal (TBT), BMT Container Freight Station and the recently authorized operator, Amaris Terminals, were all asked to withdraw. or develop new model activities.

The meeting, according to confidential sources, was allegedly caused by the government's inability to review the concession agreement that granted so many operational concessions to MPS for the operation of the domestic container terminals.

Stakeholders, including the Port of Tema itself, fear that once the INNs will not have deliveries, this will result in job losses.
A source in the port of Tema told the Daily Graphic that the port would fire at least 1,200 workers.

Although the government, through the GPHA, holds 30% of the T3 project, controls have revealed that it will not receive any dividends in the next 10 years.

Committee

The government set up an interdepartmental review committee in January 2018, headed by a Deputy Minister of Transportation, Daniel Titus-Glover, to evaluate the proposals submitted by the GPHA for the review. review of the concession agreement of 35 years duration.

Sources indicated that although the committee made its recommendations to the government in February 2018, a white paper on these recommendations had not yet been released.

When contacted, Mr. Titus-Glover stated that the committee recommended a review of all the work done, as this was not in the interest of the GPHA and the country.

"It was an amended agreement signed under the previous government, it's a bad deal for the port and the whole country and we hope to correct the damage," he said.

Contract agreement

The act of modification, found by the Daily Graphic, gives the MPS the exclusive right to manage eligible vessels such as full container carriers carrying 200 units equivalent to twenty (TEU) or more, a situation that many stakeholders of the sector claim to Ghana. out of the arrangements.

Likewise, the provisions of the agreement give MPS the right to impose and retain all payments made in respect of vessel fees, as well as the cost of occupying berths.

The agreement also gives MPS the right to charge and retain port dues until the date of discharge of all the concessionaire's obligations under the financing agreements, as confirmed by the lenders.

"As such, 90% of the retention of contributions goes to MPS, while the GPHA holds a 10% stake from the first to the tenth year," the report says.

Sources at the port of Tema said that, thanks to these provisions, the GPHA would lose all its container ships to MPS, leaving only ro-ro ships whose transport capacity was often limited.

"This implies that the volume of containers handled by the GPHA will increase from 92,539 TEUs to 37,294 TEUs by 2019/2020, which will result in a reduction of container revenues from $ 10.68 million to $ 4.22 million. . , "Committee report seen by the Daily Graphic posed.

The committee therefore recommended the renegotiation of the agreement to increase the limit of ships to be handled by the GPHA in terminal two (2) to 800 TEU from less than 200 TEUs proposed in the act.

"This will ensure that the GPHA and the many handling companies will have a certain amount of containers to keep them operating," he said.

The report also feared that revenue from onshore container handling would be halved, from $ 38.75 million to $ 17 million by 2020, while royalty revenue from MPS activities would be halved. will also experience a mbadive drop from $ 24.12 million to $ 6.57 million for 2019/2020 operational activities. year.

"If this agreement remains unchanged, the GPHA will go through a financial crisis by 2020 and may be incentivized to eliminate unused work, as space and equipment may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to pay salaries. , service existing loans and develop basic infrastructure. port infrastructure, "says the report.

Meeting

"The Tema (Tema) and APM terminals, affiliated to the Bollore Group, also involved in the project, however, would not be affected by the operations of the new terminal," said sources.

The meeting of 11 January 2019, chaired by Mr Michael Luguje, Acting Director General of GPHA, requested the relevant INNs to suspend the renewal of their operating licenses.

However, a letter dated 17 January 2019 addressed to all DCIs, a copy of which the Daily Graphic has read, asks operators to proceed with the renewal, although they are not allowed to receive containers from July.

"Please note that the port will stop moving containers to INNs when Terminal 3 begins operations in July 2019. However, the DCI license will be renewed for a full year," says the letter.

He added that the renewal was intended to allow DCI operators to continue to manage the containers that would remain on their terminals after the start of operations of the new terminal.

The DCI representatives contacted by Daily Graphic declined to comment on the matter, except to say that the GPHA had asked them to staff it.

GPHA

GPHA Marketing and Public Relations Director Esther Gyebi-Donkor confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the authority had held a meeting with the INNs to sensitize them to other opportunities because the launch of MPS Terminal 3 would be average redundancy of container terminals.

"The INNs will have to decide since the GPHA will also have to deal with the overcapacity of the workforce at its end," she said of the impact on the workforce. Harbor.

Ms. Gyebi-Donkor added, "Since our business will be significantly reduced, we at GPHA are also planning work, equipment, and unused space that could affect the generation of income. But the authorities are developing strategies to retain some of their activities and diversify to help the GPHA survive. "