Ship diversions around Cape of Good Hope have seen vessel traffic growth along the West African coastline. Additionally, recent expansion of deepwater drilling operations by big oil companies is a development indicator for the offshore industry in West Africa. With these opportunities, the region is emerging as a global destination for ship repair and maintenance. In fact, several West Africa governments are ramping up plans to expand ship repair infrastructure.
The latest milestone is from Ghana, with Takoradi Floating Dock Project (Shiprite) securing $9.7 million funding from the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG). The financing is part of a growth partnership between Ghana and the UK. The pact was signed last week during Ghanaian President John Mahama’s visit to the UK.
The $137 million Takoradi Floating Dock project involves an investor consortium led by the project developer, Prime Meridian Docks Ghana Ltd and an equity investment from the ARM-Harith Infrastructure Fund. PIDG investment helped to close the final funding gap. The African Export-Import Bank is the mandated lead arranger, with other investments expected from the African Development Bank and the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB).
PIDG will provide financing through its project development unit InfraCO. PIDG is funded by six governments including Australia, Canada, UK, Sweden and Netherlands, and has lauded Project Shiprite as a timely investment for West Africa’s maritime development. Currently, vessels operating in the busy Gulf of Guinea are forced to undertake a 10-14-day journey to Walvis Bay in Namibia or to Las Palmas in Spain to access periodic dry docking and ship repair services.
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The Takoradi Floating Dock hopes to solve this challenge, providing a modern commercial-scale ship repair and dry docking facility in the Gulf of Guinea. The project is delivered in partnership with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) under a 25-year concession agreement with the project partners. The dry dock is being developed within the vicinity of the Port of Takoradi, around 140 miles from the capital, Accra. Once built, the facility will handle vessels up to 200 meters in length.
Recently, the West African region is seeing a rise of drydock upgrade projects. Last month, Senegal formed a joint venture with Damen Shipyards Group to operate and upgrade the historic Dakar Shipyard. Afreximbank is also backing the upgrade of the Starzs Marine shipyard in the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone, Rivers State in Nigeria.
