Ghana benefits from Ivorian unrest

News 18 May 2011 by WCN Editorial

Ghanaian ports have experienced a sharp jump in turnover as a result of unrest in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire

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Trade flows have been disrupted in Côte d’Ivoire since 2000, when a disputed election saw the country divided north-south into two parts.

Another disputed election in December 2010 triggered more widespread fighting and the imposition of sanctions on the country’s ports, which saw port turnover nosedive.

The crisis came to an end only in April with the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo, but Ghanaian ports have clearly benefitted from the unrest over the entire period.

According to figures from the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), the country’s ports handled a combined 13.9 Mt in 2010, 16% up on the previous year. Tema accounted for 75% of this, leaving Takoradi with the remaining 25%.

A spokesperson for the GSA attributed the increase to rising volumes of transit cargo bound for or coming from the landlocked states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in the north. In addition, Ghanaian cocoa exports are expected to reach 920,000t for the 2010-11 season, up from 632,000t last year.

The deputy chief executive of Ghanaian cocoa marketing board Cocobod, Yaw Adu-Ampomah, attributed the rise to improvements in domestic cultivation but most sources suggest that between 100,000t and 200,000t of the increase could be the result of cocoa smuggling from Côte d’Ivoire.

Both the government of Ghana and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority have pledged to increase the handling capacity of Tema and Takoradi, as well as investing in improved road connections with the Sahelian states of the north.

However, it remains to be seen how quickly the Ivorian port of Abidjan will regain its former position as the region’s entrepôt following the removal of Gbagbo.