Yesterday the countdown for the arrival of the Gantry Cranes stopped. A new sight has sprang up on the waterfront of the Tema Port Expansion Project with the arrival of the awaited ultra-modern gantry cranes.

This will create new jobs, enhance the skills of employees and will further strengthen Tema Port as the most efficient and modern gateway for cargo in the region and heighten MPS role as an economic growth engine.

MPS led by the CEO, Mohamed Samara and the Mayor of Tema Hon. Felix Nii Anang-La, The Harbour Master Captain Christian Yeboah Asante, Members of Management and Staff were on site early to observe as the vessel carrying the cranes were slowly guided to the newly built Quay wall.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive of Tema, Felix Nii Anang-La said that this was unprecedented in Ghana. Addressing the MPS CEO & Management team, the Tema Mayor said “What you are doing is adding value to GPHA, when I say GPHA, I mean Ghana. I was with H.E the President when he came for a tour of the project last year and I am astonished to see such significant progress”. He added, MPS deserves gratitude for all the CSR projects that you are engaged in in the Tema Municipality. The benefits of this project are enormous, business will boom, value for resources will appreciate and lives will be transformed.

Captain Christian Yeboah Asante, the Harbour Master at Tema Port revealed that a lot of preparation has gone into equipping the pilots both practically and technically. “There was a collaboration between Denmark pilots and Ghanaian pilots. Two pilots have been trained to handle the larger vessels that will be coming to the New Harbour Basin”. The Harbour Master also indicated that two pilots have gone to China to train on these massive vessels and another two pilots will follow.

Marvelling at the sight, The MPS Operations Manager, Emmanuel Ohene-Addo remarked. Seeing this happen before our eyes is history being unfolded. It gives us further motivation to continue to work hard, to deliver excellence for MPS and our nation. We are just about ready to satisfy the needs of our clients and shipping lines.

The new cranes are part of the fleet of 27 new cranes ordered for the new port.

The STS cranes are Super Post Panamax and not only one of largest but also one of the most advanced in the world. They are designed with 66 meter outreach capable of handling containers on board vessels up to 23 rows and over 10 on deck while the eRTG (Electric Rubber Tyre Gantries) are capable of stacking containers 7 wide and 1 over 5 high in the container yards.  

The STS cranes stand at a towering height of 89 meters and 134 meters high when boomed up, equivalent to 32 storey-building and 50 stories when boomed up. Like tall skyscrapers, the cranes can be viewed from a far distance within Tema Township.

The Port Project Director, Mark Nolet, confidently expressed that with the arrival of the cranes the Port Expansion area is being transformed from a construction site to a container terminal port.

The Head of Business Transition, Cyrille Lemee,  complemented that the additional 15 cranes are scheduled for delivery in February 2019 well in time for commissioning and training the operators before the Port Go-live in June. 

The cranes are designed for operations on today’s largest container vessels and will be electrically powered instead of using diesel generators, contributing to an improvement in the environment.

The CEO of MPS expressed his excitement at what had been achieved during the months of hard work and preparation for this moment as well as what will be done over the next days to fit the STS cranes on the rails and to connect the eRTG’s to the busbar. “This is a major milestone for this project, and we are on target” said Mr. Samara.

He congratulated the team and expressed his appreciation to everyone who had contributed in accomplishing the feat for Tema and Ghana as a whole.