The Chief Executive of Rescue Shipping and Investment Agency, Silas Akrong, says freight trade increased significantly at the beginning of the first quarter of 2020 before the COVID-19 Pandemic struck. Economic activities measured by container traffic at both Tema and Takoradi ports declined by 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2020.
The second-quarter also saw container traffic further decline by 12.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020, leading to a deficit of 1.4 billion dollars.
Mr. Akrong said the decline in port activities has been attributed to moderation in international trade activities during the COVID-19 period.
He said, “the issue of inter-trade has been on discussion for several decades now and now narrowing it down to just a few years ago when intra trade discussion became very vital on the continent. I mean this rose from the several blocks to the four blocks within the continent to what we have now in driving this momentum into the Continental Free Trade Area that is supposed to see trade within or among ourselves increase exponentially and so issues that were originally pertaining to intra trade still existed even before the Covid-19. Issues of language barrier, currency were still pertaining, so Covid only just came as uncertainty to further worsen the situation and then revealed the gaps and hindrances that already existed in intra trade space.”
He said intra trade on the continent was curtailing trade in Ghana until COVID-19 set in. He explained that, “We had issues where transit times for most of the shipping lines were delayed because when they are not full to a certain capacity they can’t move. It was not profitable to move so, for instance, you could give your client maybe 35 to 40 days transit time for maybe shipping something from let’s say China to Tema Port some have to wait for extra 30 days more. This was because there were no movement of services and everything came to a halt because of the Pandemic. The more you move the more it spreads, so for you to curtail the spread in your country you are supposed to bring to halt movement of goods and services so everything was ground zero.”
Since 2016 second quarter, economic activities at the ports had been recording container traffic averagely between 140,000 to 160,000 containers per quarter until a sharp rise during the fourth quarter of last year. However, these statistics were derived before the arrival of the corona-virus pandemic in Ghana in late March, just as the first quarter was about to end and so the data is not influenced by the Impact of the viral outbreak.
Despite the virus gradually dying down in some parts of the globe, economic recovery still remains dim. Since the virus struck late first quarter 2020, it is expected that container traffic at Ghana’s ports has further declined in the second and third quarters of 2020. About 85 percent of Ghana’s trade is done through the ports with shipping routes and vessel calls to and from all continents through both direct and transshipment services.
Activities at the country’s two major harbours, Tema and Takoradi, continue to experience a decline as trade between Ghana and other countries remain negatively affected by the corona-virus pandemic. The first quarter recorded container traffic of 146,266 compared to 166,685 in first quarter of the year. Year-on-year, however, total container traffic increased by 12.6 percent from 166,685 in first quarter this year 2020 to 148,022 for the first quarter of 2019.
According to the report, the relative improvement in port activities may be attributed to an uptick in international trade activities during the period under review.
Story by: Mabel Adorkor Annang.
