Construction of the multipurpose Atlantic Container Terminal in the Western region of Ghana has finally kicked off. The project, being developed by Ibistek Ghana Limited, will see the port basin dredged to a 16 meter depth and land reclamation for the building of five new berths, capable of receiving very large vessels.
The first phase of the project will be financed partially by the African Finance Group (AFC), following a withdrawal by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the initial financiers of the project.
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The on-dock Atlantic Container Terminal
According to Mr Pascal Dumez, the project manager, between 250 and 300 workers will be engaged for the construction phase of the project.“For now, we want to make progress as fast as we can, since we have lost significant time, and we want to make up by speeding up so we can hand over the berths within the 24-month,” he added.
Upon completion, the Atlantic Terminal is set to be the largest development in the history of the Takoradi Port and will have a cargo holding space of one million twenty-footer equivalent units (TEUs), an upscale from the average container traffic of about 55,000 TEUs a year.
The project which is a joint venture between Ibistek and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHPA) under a concession agreement signed between the two in 2017, will develop dedicated port terminal facilities within the Takoradi Port for the handling of containers and containerised cargo. It will also handle other multi-cargo commodities and related terminal services.
The multipurpose container terminal will also serve as a main transhipment point for cargo moving from Ghana to neighbouring landlocked countries.
