Twenty-six middle managers from the port community of Ghana, including 3 women, have completed their week-long training course in Module 7 of the UNCTAD TrainForTrade Port Training Programme at the port of Takoradi in Ghana.
"The module has really helped me to understand the sources of port law and why we should go into marine insurance, how to manage risks in the port, and general land use and management. The tutorials helped me to appreciate how the laws are applied in legal situations," said Mrs. Adelaide Panford of the Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority.
To make this work, TrainForTrade organizes Training of Trainers and Coaches workshops to train local senior managers on how to deliver the course training material and how to transmit their many years of experience working in and managing ports.
Since the training covers all aspects of port management, the participants are carefully selected so as to include representatives from both the private and public sector and cover the main roles within a port community. This is often the first time that operators from the different sectors work together and the result is the creation of a strong network within the community.
Two ports are part of the Port Training Programme in Ghana -- Takoradi and Tema -- which between them, handle more than 90 per cent by volume of Ghana’s foreign trade.
In 2011 the two ports combined attracted 15,697,476 tonnes of cargo traffic (10,748,943 for Tema and 4,948, 533 for Takoradi) and 813,494 container TEUs (756,899 for Tema and 56,595 for Takoradi). This underscores the very critical role the ports play in the socio-economic development of the country.
The Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority is committed to re-positioning the ports to take full advantage of opportunities in the emerging oil industry.
The vision of GPHA is to develop Takoradi into a global oil services hub and Tema into the leading container hub of the ECOWAS region.
The country has proven offshore oil reserves of 5 billion barrels according to latest estimates with production for August expected to reach 80,000 barrels per day, while natural gas reserves amount to 22.65 billion cubic meters.
