Sea port trade dwindles

Total maritime trade for the first quarter of 2013 declined 4 percent year-on-year to 4.7 million tonnes, according to Ghana Shippers Authority figures obtained by the B&FT.

This was made up of about 3.5 million tonnes of imports, representing 74 percent of total trade, and  1.2 million tonnes  of exports, which was 26 percent of total trade.

The port of Tema handled over 76 percent of the total trade, while the Takoradi port handled the remainder.

The data showed that total transit cargoes that passed through the two major sea ports of the country during the period amounted to 173,551 tonnes. This was made up of 154,855 tonnes of imports and 18,696 tonnes of exports.

The total import cargo, which was 7 percent down on a year-to-year basis, comprised 1.6 million tonnes of liner items, 815,250 tonnes of dry bulk items and 1 million tonnes of liquid bulk items.

The liner import trade was made up of items such as iron, steel, pipes and plates, which amounted to 182,650 tonnes; processed foods, which amounted to 178,684 tonnes; and chemicals, which registered over 881,068 tonnes.

Other items included tiles (94,795 tonnes), frozen meat and food (122,837 tonnes), machinery and equipment (68,894 tonnes), polythene raw materials (66,573 tonnes), bagged rice (43,663 tonnes) and bagged sugar (19,809 tonnes).

Total dry bulk imports for the period amounted to 815,250 tonnes, a decrease of 28 percent from the same period a year ago.
Clinker was one of the major import items in this trade, recording a figure of 431,708 tonnes. This was followed by cement and limestone, which recorded 88,352 tonnes and 35,010 tonnes respectively. Bulk grains and bagged rice also recorded 71,266 tonnes and 60,879 tonnes respectively.

Liquid bulk import trade showed an overall increase of 67 percent  from 629,211 tonnes in 2011 to over 1 million tonnes during the review period.

The major items in this trade inlcuded petroleum products (830,544 tonnes), crude oil (80,456 tonnes), LPG (59,500 tonnes) and bulk chemicals (37,270 tonnes).

Most of the maritime imports in the first quarter of 2013 came from the Far East and the North Continent ranges, accounting for 30 percent and 22 percent of the total respectively.

The Africa and the Mediterranean ranges followed with 582,396 tonnes (17 percent) and 514,830 tonnes (15 percent) respectively. The North America range accounted for 152,090 tonnes (4 percent) and the United Kingdom range had 75,894 tonnes or 2 percent of total import.

Export Trade

The total export trade was made up of over 484,789 tonnes of liner items or 39 percent of total exports for the period; 699,721 tonnes (57 percent) of dry bulk items; and 52,006  tonnes (4 percent) of liquid bulk items.

Majority of the items exported went to the Far East and the North Continent ranges.