Civil Engineering May 2022 | Vol 30 No 4

8 May 2022 Civil Engineering L ocated approximately 30 km from the capital city of Accra and along the Gulf of Guinea, Tema is home to approximately 70% of Ghana’s major container and port handling traffic. The Tema Port container terminal has been operated by MPS since 2007 and in June 2015 the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and MPS signed an agreement for the development of a new harbour and container terminal. The new port, which is located adjacent to the old port, was designed to provide enough draft and modern container handling equipment to accept and service the largest container vessels operating on global trade routes. The new port can accommodate vessels with a capacity of 22 000 TEUs, a significant increase from 5 000 TEUs at the old port. The new terminal will significantly increase Ghana’s container handling capacity to around 3.7 million TEU per year from 800 000. The 127 ha development will provide substantial economic benefits and growth for Ghana by facilitating, easing and growing trade, increasing revenues to the state through taxes, levies and fees, cre- ating jobs (construction/operations), and positioning Ghana as a major shipping and transshipment hub in West Africa. MPS, through a competitive tender process, assembled a truly multinational Tema Port Expansion: delivering infrastructure and opportunities In 2015 Meridian Port Services (MPS) initiated a years-long project that would see the Port of Tema undergo significant expansion, bringing with it substantial economic benefits for Ghana. Civil Engineering spoke to David Simpson, AECOM’s Senior Resident Engineer on the Tema Port Expansion Project, to learn about the award- winning project and the multinational team that made it a reality. Table 1 Tema Port Expansion project team Client MPS (JV between GPHA, Bollore, APM Terminals) Detailed designer Q Q Marine: China Harbour Engineer Company (China) Q Q Land: Eiffage Genie Civil (France) Q Q Buildings: Zutari (previously Aurecon) (South Africa) FEED designer Q Q Marine: Artelia (France) Q Q Land: Mott MacDonald (UK) Project management consultant AECOM Contractor Q Q Marine: China Harbour Engineer Company (China) Q Q Land: Eiffage Genie Civil (France) Q Q Buildings: Consar (Ghana) Equipment Q Q STS and eRTG: ZPMC (China) Q Q Various others Harbour , coastal and mar i ne eng i neer i ng The 127 ha port development will provide substantial economic benefits