The Socio – Economic Potential of Railway Services from Tema Port on Indigenous Ghanaian Road Haulage

Abstract

A synopsis forecasting the ‘repercussions of active railway services from the Tema seaport of Ghana - on the indigenous road haulage industry’ was created in 2009.  This was with full knowledge that rail haulage services though non-existent, were inevitable if the port was to realize appreciable levels of efficiency in support of supply chains through the Sub-region. The study, which is still relevant today, assessed the views of stakeholders’ in road haulage with regards to ‘the level of awareness of the potential competition from an operational railway sector, the potential impacts on their businesses and ways of reducing negative impacts if any’.  It was evident that a fully operational railway services would yield significant negative direct, indirect and induced impacts on the indigenous road haulage industry in the short to medium term. The level of awareness of these was quite low amongst the indigenous Ghanaian stakeholders. Few indigenous operators vouched to resort to crime if they lost their livelihoods.  It was noted with interest, that members of the road haulage industry could somehow contribute funding in support of a future rail haulage industry, which could result in win - win situations for all relevant stakeholders.  This was on the backdrop that national policies offering opportunities for indigenous road haulers are instituted and the necessary education on global trends with ‘multimodal transport’ given them.  Such opportunities could increase their relevance as well as their comparative and competitive advantage as partakers in international logistics services.

Keywords: Indigenous Ghanaian Road Haulage Industry , potential impact, logistics, Multimodal Transport Operation