To ensure renewed commitment to its existing safety protocols for the safe handling and transportation of International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDGs), the Management of the Port of Takoradi has held a forum to engage with various stakeholders involved in the importation, exportation, handling and transportation of such cargoes to and from the Takoradi Port.

The forum afforded the stakeholders the opportunity to review and tighten the Port’s existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the handling of IMDGs to and from the port, as well as ensure continued compliance with relevant national and international laws/codes, in order to sustain the port’s positive safety record.

The forum was also intended to help the various stakeholders collaborate toward the safeguarding of such cargoes outside the port’s jurisdiction.

The Port Fire and Safety Manager, Jimmy-Nab Daisie, expressed that, “Once the cargo gets out of the port, we can easily say we have done our part, but we are thinking ahead to know that it goes through the corridors of our cities to various destinations where these cargoes are stored. We need to consider the innocent people who know nothing about IMDGs and put in procedures to protect them as the goods travel across the corridors of the country”.

Some of the participating organisations included the security/regulatory agencies involved in granting approval for the transportation and handling of these dangerous goods to and from the port.

They include the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, National Intelligence Bureau, Ghana Police Service (Arms and Ammunitions Unit), National Security, Minerals Commission, Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).