Ghana Cocoa Board halts operations at Takoradi port
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has stopped using facilities at the Takoradi Port as warehouses to store and service cocoa beans meant for export.
The decision by the board to stop warehousing operations at the Takoradi Portis in response to signals from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHPA) to the effect that the authority would be reclaiming its structures at the port to meet increasing maritime activities there.
COCOBOD has meanwhile moved into its own take-over centres at Kejibilin the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.
The Kejibil facility adds to the Apowa Commodity Village, also in the Ahanta West District, as the main take-over centres that the board will be operating from henceforth.
The Public Affairs Manager of COCOBOD, Mr Noah Amenyah, made this known to the Daily Graphic.
“Because we knew GHPA will be taking back their structures at the port, we started constructing the Kejibil facility and we have now moved in to operate from that place”, he said.
Although the movement from the port to the new centres is expected to create some inconveniences to COCOBOD, Mr Amenyah said the situation could also help lessen the negative effects that humid weather conditions from the sea had on cocoa beans.
“We moving out of the port come with pluses and minuses. Now, cocoa has been taken out of the humid environment at the port and that will help save it from dampness and the challenge we had preserving the beans there.”
“The problem now is us having to cart the beans from these facilities to the port. That comes with extra cost and inconveniences”, Mr Amenyah said.
The two facilities are about 14 kilometers to the Takoradi Port from which loaded cocoa will be shipped out of the country.
The Kejibil take-over centre, a 100,000 metric tonnes initiative of the board, has 570 tonnes capacity warehouses, two container depots and a discrepant shed where reconditioning of cocoa beans takes place. The Apowa Commodity Village on the other hand is an 80,000 metric tonnes facility that has been bought by COCOBOD after years of renting.
With the current arrangement, warehousing and pre-shipment activities on cocoa beans meant for export will be done at the two facilities and later loaded into trucks to the port for shipment abroad.
To help reduce the cost of the loading and carting of beans meant for shipment, COCOBOD’s Public Affairs Manager said the board was looking at equipping the Kejibil facility.
Source: Daily Graphic