GPHA adjudged best port in Management Information Systems … West and Central Africa
The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, (GPHA) has been adjudged Best Port in Management Information Systems in the whole of West and Central Africa at the 4th Edition of the African Ports Awards.
The Awards ceremony was held in Ghana as part of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa’s 39th Council Meeting and Conference, and recognised GPHA for the massive automation of its port processes as well as the paperless system that commenced on 1st September, 2017.
At the same event, the Port of Tema won the Best Port in Container Terminal productivity and was also presented with an incentive award for the Tema Port Expansion project – which when completed by June, 2019 will increase the port’s capacity to about three times its current size.
The acting Director-General of GPHA, Michael Luguje, was also presented with an honorary award for his immense and invaluable contribution to the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa as the outgoing Secretary-General.
Speaking after receiving the award, the Ag. Director-General of GPHA, Michael Luguje, said GPHA has invested heavily in ICT – which resulted in GPHA playing a leading role in the paperless port project recently spearheaded by the Vice-President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Michael Luguje said GPHA is going to work assiduously to reinforce its ICT infrastructure by training personnel and also ensuring integration between the GPHA and Customs systems, which will lead to the achievement of efficiency in port clearance processes.
He noted that ICT plays a major role in boosting professionalism in the working environment, and encouraged other Director-Generals in West and Central Africa to build upon their ICT projects to help improve facilitation and efficiency of work in their respective ports.
He also highlighted that serving customers to their satisfaction is one of GPHA’s priorities; hence, the Port Authority is going to work hard toward rendering good and quality services to its customers.
“I believe this will encourage our clients, the shipping lines, to bring more vessels through the ports of Ghana,” he said.
The Director of Tema Port, Edward Kofi Osei, emphasised that the management of Tema Port will continue to put in place good management measures and policies to deal with problems confronting customers who do business with Ghana’s ports.
He commended the entire management and staff for their hard work, which he said has led to the of the organisation’s success.
The Board Chairman of GPHA, Peter Mac Manu, said he is pleased with GPHA’s performance and congratulated every individual who has contributed to the success.
He advised management and staff of GPHA to continue improving on the good works they have already done to ensure stability of work in the organisation.
The African Ports Awards contest was designed to serve as a platform for ports in the Western and Central African sub-region to periodically evaluate their competitiveness through assessing data pertaining to various areas of their activities.
The award ceremony has since been organised as part of the annual council meeting of PMAWCA, which was this year hosted by Ghana.
Pundits in the Management of African Ports have unanimously praised Ghana for hosting the 39th Edition of the PMAWCA Annual Council Meeting and Conference successfully, and demonstrating a strong sense of commitment to leading the way in the growth of ports in the region.
Source: Business and Financial Times
