Exactly four years following the state visit of Danish Queen HM Queen Margrethe II to Ghana, West Africa’s leading container terminal Meridian Port Services Ltd (MPS) has played host to another high-profile visitor from Denmark.
The visit to MPS on November 25, 2021 was part of the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s official visit to Ghana on the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both countries.
When Her Majesty visited MPS in November 2017, she observed the construction work on the Port Expansion Project. Now, the Danish Prime Minister has witnessed a full-fledged container terminal with a recently completed fourth berth handling transhipment volumes.
Once again, Ghana’s trade and industrial hub became a centre of attraction when the Danish Delegation led by the Prime Minister toured the magnificent container terminal facility at MPS Terminal 3 of Tema Port.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by the opposition leader from the Liberal Party of Denmark, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen; Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Nørring; the Director General and CEO of Danish Shipping, Anne H. Steffesen; as well as some key dignitaries of Danish/Ghanaian origin.
The delegation was received by management of MPS led by Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Samara, at the waterfront to observe operations by the largest and most advanced gantry cranes. The Prime Minister also inspected the vast investment display of infrastructure, technology and machinery.
Engaging in a discussion with the Prime Minister, the CEO detailed the genesis of the Port Expansion Project – citing shareholder commitment as key to realisation of the project.
“The construction of this mega-port facility was completed ahead schedule and within budget, and this is attributed to a few factors – mainly the financial commitment of shareholders backed by the lenders, and comprehensive pre-engineering with the right design criteria implementation by competent contractors. Importantly, the immediate cash flow need was pumped in as fresh equity by the shareholders to meet obligations under the project finance agreement with IFC,” said Mr. Samara.
The Prime Minister was visibly pleased with this revelation and proceeded to ask about cargo volume direction. In response, Mr. Samara stated that for this year growth has been on the rise with an estimated throughput of 1.2m TEUS for gateway traffic, while transhipment is envisaged to reach 300,000 TEUS for this year.
Commenting about concerns on the possibility of road congestion in the port enclave, the MPS CEO remarked: “Shareholders are very much interested and have started talks with the appropriate authorities to see the way forward”.
