Mr Richard Anamoo, Director General, Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA), has assured the maritime industry that PSC Tema Shipyard and Drydock Company Limited would be revamped to meet modern standards.
Agitation by the workers of the Shipyard led to Cabinet ordering the Ministry of Transport to transfer the facility’s management to the GPHA.
Mr Anamoo said his outfit was ready to live up to the challenge and create the needed opportunities for the Shipyard to stay afloat.
He gave the assurance in a reaction and acceptance of the placing of the Shipyard under the GPHA.
He revealed that the GPHA expressed interest to take over the management of the facility when it was under the Malaysians.
The Director-General added that his outfit as a commitment to the takeover at the time stepped in and paid “some millions of dollars” to pay the Malaysians off on behalf of government.
On the current state of the Shipyard, he observed that even though it was built to be the best in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was currently in a deplorable state.
He noted that “the slipway is completely gone” while “the cranes are more of environmental hazards than any other thing”.
Mr Anamoo added that the sheds at the Shipyard were also leaking adding that there was therefore the need to clean up the place to bring it up to standard.
He also indicated that most of the machines might also be lost since they were acquired over 50 years ago.
The ones designed to be very robust, he stated would be refurbished to be used for its operations.
Mr Anamoo indicated that most of the work done at the Shipyard was carried out manually therefore the need for some automation and retraining of staff to embrace modern technologies.
He challenged workers of the Shipyard to put in their best and adopt the right attitude to work to ensure the viability of the facility.
“They must know that they have to work to pay themselves as there are many opportunities out there for them”, he stated.
The GPHA Director-General noted that even though the Authority was ready to immediately start revamping the facility, the legal obstacle of the Shipyard being a limited liability company with its own board of directors must be dealt with first.
He was however optimistic that with the help of the Ministry of Transport and the Attorney General, the needed Executive Instruments would be passed to give GPHA the real mandate to manage the Tema Shipyard and Dry dock Company Limited.
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