The Takoradi Harbour is in the Western region of Ghana. It is located in the industrial district of Sekondi-Takoradi and is the oldest harbour in Ghana. The Takoradi harbour and the Tema Harbour are the only harbours in Ghana.
The idea for the construction of the port was first advocated in 1895 by consulting engineers of the British government. The engineers proposed that the harbour when constructed could serve both as a terminal port for the Tarkwa railway project and a naval port to serve the British empire in war times. The site for the harbour was proposed at the Amanful village which sat in the bay of the harbour today. The construction of the port begun in 1921 by then governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Gordon Guggisberg and was completed in 1928.
The port receives and exports high volumes of cargo. The management of the harbour is the responsibility of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. The harbour serves as the main export port for Ghana. It handles 65% of total export with about 600 vessels visiting it. The main exports from the harbour are cocoa, timber, bauxite, manganese
The harbour also serves the international trade purposes of land locked countries in the Sahel region of Africa. Some of the countries are Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The harbour transits large volumes of cargo for these countries.
The harbour handles 37% Ghana’s seabourn traffic and 62% of national exports. It receives 20% all the imports that the country receives.
Major works
In July 2004 it was announced that a 250 million dollar modernization project which was to upgrade the harbour was to begin. The project included the dredging of wharf and construction of container berths to increase the volume of cargo the harbour could handle. The Authority also constructed a 14-metre high wall around the port. The wall was to improve security and prevent the incidence of stowaways. Again, in July 2009 the Authority announced a 700 million dollar project to rehabilitate and upgrade the harbour. This was to make the harbour ready for the country’s new oil and gas industry. The project was to include the reclamation and redevelopment of the old log pond into an oil services facility. The oil service facility was to support the country’s offshore oil production.
Other works that were to be included in the project were dredging, paving works in the harbour ,the construction of quay walls of 500 metres ,construction of cocoa shed outside the harbour premises, construction of an oil berth of depth 650 metres
In September 2013 a harbour expansion project commenced. The aim was to extend the breakwater northward by 1.75 kilometres, the construction of bulk oil service terminal, the reclamation of a land area of 53,000 hectares, an open area for oil pipe, plant and machinery, as well as an access road to the port. The project was undertaken by Jan De Nul of Belgium.