The Minister for Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, says government is taking urgent measures to decongest Ghana’s ports following a sharp increase in container volumes.
Mr Nikpe said container volumes had increased by almost 100 per cent, describing the surge as unprecedented at the ports in the past 20 years.
The development has created significant operational challenges at the Meridian Port Services (MPS) Terminal at Tema, raising concerns over delays in cargo clearance and Ghana’s competitiveness as a regional trade hub.
Industry players have also cited persistent system outages at the MPS terminal as a major challenge, saying the technical disruptions have affected cargo-handling efficiency, forcing some containers to be redirected to off-dock terminals and further worsening congestion.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Mr Nikpe said government was taking steps to remove containers that had overstayed at the port.
“It is for us as a government to ensure that containers that are overstayed in the port are evacuated. And that is why I have charged the management of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority to have a list of all containers that have overstayed at the port, then we can hand them over to the Ghana Revenue Authority, which is responsible for taking or confiscating such containers at the port,” he said.
He said shipping lines were also being encouraged to evacuate empty containers that had remained at the port for extended periods.
“The shipping lines are also making calls to bring in more ships to help them take their empty containers because they wouldn’t want to sit down and have them confiscated, and I’m told that they have accelerated calls and are getting in more of the ships to help take the empty containers that have been left in the port for some time,” he said.
“But the truth of the matter is that the container volumes have increased almost to 100 per cent, which has never been recorded in the past 20 years at the port,” he added.
Mr Nikpe said he had visited the port on Friday to engage port officials on measures to address the congestion.
“I visited the port on Friday to get in touch with the port officials for us to take a decisive decision as to how to decongest the port. And I must say that it was a very fruitful meeting,” he said.
He explained that the surge in imports, coupled with insufficient export and transit cargo, had put additional pressure on available terminal space.
According to him, shipping lines are occupying a significant portion of the available space at Terminal 3 and facilities operated by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
As part of immediate measures, Mr Nikpe said government was working with the Railway Development Authority to use available space at one of its terminals to temporarily evacuate some containers from the port.
He said government was also taking steps to remove containers that had remained at the port for more than six months.
“We had called on the shipping lines to ensure that any container that belongs to them that is over six months are cleared. We had involved the Ghana Revenue Authority to confiscate such containers and then get them gazetted and auctioned to the people in a way to decongest the port,” he said.
Mr Nikpe further disclosed that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority had been instructed to urgently acquire two additional cranes to improve the loading and offloading of cargo.
He said the cranes would help reduce delays and limit additional demurrage costs incurred by shipping lines.
Beyond the immediate interventions, the Minister said government was pursuing long-term measures to expand port infrastructure to accommodate rising container traffic.
He said both the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and Meridian Port Services were expected to expand their facilities and construct additional berths to increase handling capacity.
Mr Nikpe also identified inadequate road infrastructure leading into and out of the ports as another major contributor to congestion.
He said government, in collaboration with MPS and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, was working to expand the Tema and harbour routes to improve traffic flow around the ports.
Mr Nikpe said the combined measures were intended to free up terminal space, improve cargo-handling efficiency and ensure the ports could cope with the sharp rise in container volumes.
