Today in History Tema Port opened by Kwame Nkrumah today in 1962

Tema Port opened by Kwame Nkrumah today in 1962

-

- Advertisement -
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Telegram

Today in History, exactly 58 years ago, the Tema Port was formally opened by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on Feb. 10, 1962.

Today in History, exactly 58 years ago, the Tema Port was formally opened by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on Feb. 10, 1962.

Watched by a crowd of cheering, singing people, President Kwame Nkrumah formally

opened Tema port, Ghana’s GBP18-million harbour about 18-miles east of Accra.

After unveiling the memorial plaque, the president made a speech outlining Tema’s history.

Kwame Nkrumah said the independent states of Africa should now be thinking seriously of

ways and means of building up a common market of a united Africa, “rather than allow

ourselves to be lured by the dubious advantages of the European common market”.

He paid tribute to the british consulting engineers and contractors responsible for the port’s construction.

Tema Port is the biggest of two seaports of Ghana, handling 80 per cent of the country’s national exports and imports.

The harbour is situated along the Gulf of Guinea, 18 miles from the capital Accra, and it

serves both as a loading and unloading port for goods, both for Ghana and the land-locked countries to the north.

Tema services a wide range of industrial and commercial companies, producing or handling

everything from petroleum products, cement and food items, to iron, steel, aluminium products and textiles.

Most of the country’s main export, cocoa, is also shipped from Tema Port.

The Tema harbour covers a total land area of 3.9 million square meters with the water-enclosed area being 1.7 million square meters.

It has 5 kilometres of breakwaters, 12 deep-water berths, one oil-tanker berth, one dockyard, warehouses and transit sheds.

Nearby is also a fishing harbour with facilities that handles fish processing.

Construction

After independence, under the leadership of Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah, the

construction of the Tema harbour began in the 1950s and was commissioned in 1962.

Construction of Tema Port began in 1954 by Sir William Halcrow and partners.

The general port plan originally comprised of two breakwaters enclosing an area of 500

acres of water with twelve berths, eight of which were situated on two quays, four transit

sheds, offices, two cocoa sheds and sites for a dry dock, a slipway and a workshop.

By 1958 construction was advanced enough to enable a cargo vessel the “Oti River” to berth.

Regular traffic however started after the commissioning in 1962.

Watch Video Below

Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Telegram

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest news

Nii Kwabena Bonne II- Today in History led a boycott of all European goods

Today in History, Nii Kwabena Bonne II organized a boycott of all European goods in response to their high...

Rosemond Nkansah – first female Ghanaian police

Rosemond Nkansah, the first Ghanaian woman to be enlisted into the Ghana Police Service, then the Gold Coast Police...

Melody Millicent Danquah, first female Ghanaian pilot

Melody Millicent Danquah, She was Ghana's First Female Pilot and Squadron Leader. She was the first to...

Nana Yaa Asantewaa dies in Seychelles (Today in History)

Today in History, On October 17, 1921, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Queen mother of Ejisu and a great warrior of...

Brigadier Joseph Edward Michel, the Ghanaian named after a Military Base

Brigadier Joseph Edward Michel, he was a Ghanaian soldier. The Michel Camp of the Ghana Armed Forces located at Tema is named after him in...

General Joseph Arthur Ankrah ‘s Letter to the American President.

A Letter from the Military Ruler, Lt. General Joseph Arthur Ankrah to the American President, Lyndon Baines Johnson on March...

Must read

Ghana National Grand Mosque, second Largest in West Africa.

Ghana National Grand Mosque, it is the second largest...

Ghana confirms new cases of Coronavirus

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed five (5)...
- Advertisement -

You might also likeRELATED

Recommended to you

Translate »