Tim and I had an amazing harbor tour today from a young man named Felix Ackwerh who was conducting his year of national service. (Tuition may be almost free for college students, but in Ghana there is an obligatory year of service before they can get their degree.) He did a wonderful job of explaining how landlocked countries like Burkina, Mali, and Niger share the port, of how the place was organized like an airport with a traffic tower and different berths dedicated to different carriers, and of how the cargo is actually organized once it comes to port. Most more perishable food items like fruit and shea butter are exported from Tema and industrial commodities like cocoa and bauxite go out of Takaradi port further west down the coast.
There are fish canneries nearby, and a BIBO - Bulk In Bag Out operation which is where items like rice are brought in bulk and bagged at the port. We also got to speak to a Filipino man working on a Vietnamese ship that was being unloaded of its rice cargo by Ghanaian stevedores. There are ten different stevedore companies that operate in the port. They were assisted by cranes, of course. All this makes me wonder how the unloading and distribution was done historically. For starters, we learned that without machine assistance, there were a whole lot more stevedores. At Felix' suggestion, I have ordered the film "Deadly Voyage" in order to learn more about this process.
The next stop for this vessel was Takaradi port, followed by China. Fish is processed at sea on board vessels like the Tema Hope. Container trucks are scanned before they leave the port by both portable and stationary gamma and xray scanners. Then they take the long trip to those landlocked countries of Niger, Mali, and Burkina. Let me tell you, I can say from my limited first hand expericence that it is a very long, arduous journey!
Interestingly, Tema can claim to be the center of the world as the Prime Meridian runs right through Tema port. Sadly, we were not able to view the marker as it was located in a high security area. The drydock for the repair of ships at Tema is the largest in West Africa.
We ate lunch at the Marina Mall where Tim had KFC for the first time since we got here. We finished up with donuts and coffee. Yum!
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| Philippine crew on Vietnamese Ship headed for China |
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| Felix helping us with a tour |
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| Cranes and Stevedores unload bags of Vietnamese rice. The market for rice in Ghana is seemingly limitless. |
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| Only 15 Ghana Cedi's! |
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| Beans and veg |
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