by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ghana is advancing efforts to cement its position as the maritime trade hub in West and Central Africa with major dredging work by Chinese marine construction firm China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC) at the old section of the eastern port of Tema to create deeper berthing capacity to accommodate bigger and more vessels.
The dredging, which began in September 2025, will deepen the port to minus 14 meters, with a dredging area of 2.8 million cubic meters.
Liu Jing, country manager of CHEC, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the firm deployed its Tiankun dredging vessel to carry out the Tema Port dredging operation. The vessel is the most sophisticated self-propelled cutter suction dredger in Asia with a conveyance capacity among the world's most advanced.
Liu said the need for the Tiankun dredging vessel was due to the nature of the terrain of the Tema Port, which involved the presence of a giant volume of extremely hard rock, "specifically, strongly weathered and moderately weathered rocks that have reached a very high degree of hardness that required advanced dredging technology to crack and excavate."
He noted that Tema is home to some of Ghana's toughest rock formations, with certain layers exhibiting very high megapascal ratings. "We had to change our approach during construction, depending on the changes in different sections, and optimize our approach along the way," he said.
Without a world-class cutter suction dredger like the Tiankun vessel, excavation would have been tough, according to the official.
"The Tiankun dredging vessel has played an excellent role in the whole process, not only in excavation but also in conveying the excavated rock to the shore through its transport system, effectively achieving reclamation," Liu noted, adding that the company has also employed a large pool of local Ghanaian workers under the project.
Tema Port Harbor Master, Bramwell Tawiah, praised CHEC for the speed of the dredging. He gave an example that when Ghana had only one cement manufacturing facility, the volume of clinker imports was minimal; however, the situation has changed due to the emergence of new cement factories, which are now importing larger volumes of clinker.
"With more growth in the economy, we began to see more competitors and an increase in clinker imports, which prompted us to re-strategize by developing a new berth for bulk clinker imports," he added.
Maritime policy expert Albert Derrick Fiatui described the dredging works by CHEC as strategic and timely, given the increasing volumes the country's seaport has been attracting recently.
Fiatui, who is Executive Director for the policy think tank Center for International Maritime Affairs, Ghana, said that because the port of Tema is the core of marine activities in the subregion, many landlocked countries in West and Central Africa transport their cargo through it.
"We know that the dredging involves approximately 2.8 million cubic meters of material, which will allow giant vessels to enter the port, improve our turnaround time, and make access to larger vessels a reality-something that every port strives for. Once you get a bigger berth, you can take any kind of vessel into your country, and the economy will benefit," the expert averred.
He added that, with the increasing volumes of imports and competition in the West and Central African subregion, Ghana needed the dredging to consolidate its position as the maritime hub in West Africa and Central Africa as well as the Sahel. "Ghana's blue economy is taking shape now and everybody is pleased and embracing this project," he said.
On his part, Samson Asaki Awingobit, Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, told Xinhua that the dredging work being done by CHEC is a significant game-changer for maritime trade in Ghana, to improve livelihoods and create more quality jobs.
"More business will come in after they finish the dredging. When trade volumes are arriving, it's going to raise demand for labor and skilled personnel. Hence, the jobs created would be both direct and indirect. They (CHEC) are always on time," Awingobit highlighted. ■
