The Takoradi Harbour is a

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

located in the Western region of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. It is located in the

industrial district Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary industries, live and work. The concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nat ...

Sekondi-Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi ( ) is a city in Ghana comprising the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan District and the Weste ...

and is the oldest harbour in Ghana. The Takoradi harbour, along with the Tema Harbour, are the only harbours in the country.

History

The idea for the construction of the port was first advocated in 1895 by consulting engineers of the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. The engineers proposed that the harbour when constructed could serve both as a terminal port for the Tarkwa railway project and a

naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

port to serve the British empire in war times. The site for the harbour was proposed at the Amanful village which sat in the bay of the harbour today. Following surveys and planning, the construction of the port begun in 1921 by then governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Gordon Guggisberg and was completed in 1928.

Trade

The Takoradi harbour is from

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, the capital of

. The port receives and exports high volumes of cargo. The management of the harbour is the responsibility of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. The harbour serves as the main export port for Ghana. It handles 65% of total export with about 600 vessels visiting it. The main exports from the harbour are: * Cocoa *

Timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

Bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

Manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

The harbour also serves the international trade purposes of land locked countries in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

region of Africa. Some of the countries are

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

and

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. The harbour transits large volumes of cargo for these countries. The harbour handles 37% Ghana's seabourn traffic and 62% of national exports. It receives 20% all the imports that the country receives.

Major works

In July of 2004, it was announced that a $250 million modernization project which was to upgrade the harbour was to begin. The project included the dredging of

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

and construction of container berths to increase the volume of cargo the harbour could handle. The Authority also constructed a high wall around the port. The wall was to improve security and prevent the incidence of stowaways. A few years later in July of 2009, the Authority announced a $700 million project to rehabilitate and upgrade the harbour. This was to make the harbour ready for the country's new

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...

industry. The project was to include the reclamation and redevelopment of the old log pond into an oil services facility. The oil service facility was to support the country's offshore oil production. Other works that were to be included in the project were: *dredging *paving works in the harbour *the construction of

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

walls of 500 metres *construction of cocoa shed outside the harbour premises *construction of an oil berth of depth 650 metres In September 2013 a harbour expansion project commenced. The project was undertaken by

Jan De Nul Jan De Nul Group is a family-owned company, originally from Belgium, with a financial headquarters in Luxembourg. Its four main activities are Offshore Energy, Dredging Solutions, Construction Projects and Planet Redevelopment. History Founded ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

References

{{Economy of Ghana Ports and harbours of Ghana

History

Trade

Major works

See also

References