Ongoing investment at the Port of Tema in Ghana could well attract more shipping services to the region. According to Tim Phillips, Hapag-Lloyd managing director in Ghana, the port has made significant improvements in recent years with capacity increasing drastically to just short of one million TEUs. “Tema has become a key port in West Africa for Hapag-Lloyd,” he said, indicating that the line’s West Africa Express Service and Mediterranean West Africa service called at the port. “We believe the growth at the Port of Tema will reinforce the role of Ghana as a hub for West Africa. Our expectations are that this market will grow significantly as port upgrades continue. Hapag-Lloyd has launched a new service to West Africa from the Middle East. Calling India and South Africa en route. This new weekly service was part of the shipping line’s strategy to grow its footprint in Africa, said Phillips. According to Mohamed Samar, CEO of Meridian Port Services (MPS) which operates Terminal 3 in the Port of Tema, the port is strategically positioned at the centre of the West Africa coastline, making it ideal for transit and transhipment. Hapag-Lloyd indicated it would use the MPS Terminal 3 at the Tema Port as its new hub. Samar said major achievements had been made at the terminal with berth moves up from 18 moves per hour to 70 while truck turnaround times now average around an hour compared to the previous 24 hours per truck. “Crane productivity has also improved and vessel delays at anchorage have been reduced significantly,” he said. According to Samar, investment into infrastructure, equipment and staff training at the Port of Tema will continue.