

Logistics
Basic Information
Chinese Name: 加纳特马新港集装箱码头
Location: Tema, Greater Accra Region, Ghana.
Type of Project: Logistics
Project Developers: Meridian Port Services (MPS), a joint venture between Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and Meridian Port Holdings Limited (MPH), which is itself a joint venture between Bolloré Africa Logistics (rebranded as Africa Global Logistics in 2023) and APM Terminals.
Main Contractor: Meridian Port Services (MPS)
Subcontractors: AECOM UK (supervision); Aurecom, South Africa (building design); China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) (marine works); Eiffage Génie Civil, France (land works); Consar, Ghana (buildings).
Financier: Co-financed bya syndicate of banks including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch Development Bank (FMO), Bank of China (providing a loan of 231 million USD), Standard Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC; providing a loan of 144.3 million USD).
Cost: 1.5 billion USD
Project Status: Operational
Project Outline

Located approximately 30 kilometres from Accra, Tema is a critical industrial and commercial area in Ghana. As shown in the map above, Tema Port is strategically positioned to serve as a gateway for Ghana’s import and export activities, facilitating significant economic benefits for the local community and the country. The expansion was motivated by the need to modernise infrastructure to meet growing trade demands and to position Tema Port as a leading maritime hub in West Africa in line with the vision and master plan of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). The expansion project was initiated by former president John Mahama during his tenure (2012–16) and was commissioned by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government (in office since 2017) in June 2020.
In June 2015, the GPHA formed a joint venture with APM Terminals, an independent unit under A.P. Moller–Maersk, which manages container terminals in more than 50 ports globally, and Bolloré Logistics (rebranded as Africa Global Logistics in 2023), one of the top five global transport and logistics companies, as a special purpose vehicle for the port expansion project. The joint venture was called Meridian Port Services (MPS) and its shares were divided among GPHA (30 per cent), APM Terminals (35 per cent), and Bolloré Logistics (35 per cent). They signed a 1.5-billion-USD agreement for the first phase of the expansion project, which aimed to increase the facilities’ capacity to handle the world’s largest container ships, aligning with Ghana’s goal to establish Tema as West Africa’s leading maritime hub. In September 2016, a syndicate of banks, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch Development Bank (FMO), Bank of China, Standard Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), finalised a 667-million-USD loan agreement with MPS, according to a 68:32 debt-to-equity ratio. The Bank of China through its branches in Shanghai, Paris, Luxembourg, and Stockholm collectively contributed 231 million USD, making it the leading lender for the expansion project, while the ICBC reportedly contributed 144.3 million USD to support the project’s development and infrastructure upgrades. With 195 million USD in financing from the IFC, it represents the multilateral institutions’ largest port investment in sub-Saharan Africa.
Managed by AECOM Professional Services (Ghana) Limited, a consultancy firm focused on delivering professional services in infrastructural development projects across various industries (water, energy, and transportation), the project officially began in October 2016. AECOM was appointed as the project consultant for the entire expansion in June 2016 due to its extensive experience in planning, engineering, and construction oversight of complex large ports and marine projects worldwide. In the Tema Port Expansion Project, AECOM was responsible for the planning and management by providing design and procurement management services. The China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), which specialises in developing and constructing port projects, was put in charge of implementation. The construction broke ground in 2017.
Completed in August 2021, the first phase of the project included design, procurement management, and supervision of construction for new port facilities. This involved dredging a 19-metre-deep port access channel, constructing a new 1.4-kilometre deep-water quay with four container berths capable of handling ultra-large container ships with a capacity of up to 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and building a 4-kilometre-long breakwater. The project’s goal was to triple the port’s capacity to accommodate larger container ships and add more than 3 million TEUs in annual throughput capacity. The expansion also included new offices for both GPHA and MPS. Additionally, a new six-lane highway was planned to connect the Port of Tema to Ghana’s capital city, Accra, to improve the transportation of cargo to and from inland destinations. The project employed more than 3,500 Ghanaians, cultivating local talent in international construction standards and port management. Due to the expansion of the port, MPS committed to developing its workforce through continuous training programs, so the local workforce is better equipped to efficiently run the port.
The second phase of the Tema Port Expansion Project, officially initiated on 15 November 2023 by President Nana Akufo-Addo and expected to conclude by September 2025, includes paving a vast 270,000-square-metre area, expanding the terminal’s footprint from 100 hectares to 127 hectares. According to MPS, CHEC was selected to construct the second phase of the expansion project due to its level of efficiency and financial discipline in delivering the first phase. In 2019, the chief executive officer of MPS was quoted by Chinese media as stating that this contract and the further work would add a total value of more than 110 million USD to the project, with further investments in operating equipment increasing the amount by another 100 million USD when throughput volumes increase.

Project Impacts
- Employment and labour rights: The project employed approximately 4,000 staff, 90 per cent of whom were local. AECOM also supported the growth of young local talent through the expansion by employing 15 interns and 40 young engineers to work on the project. However, there have also been reports of CHEC’s Ghanaian workers going on strike to protest poor working conditions.
- Biodiversity and endangered species: During the construction of the port, there was a conscious effort to protect endangered sea turtles in line with the IFC’s Performance Standard (PS6) (Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources). CHEC raised a 50-centimetre pipeline to minimise underwater blasting and created a breeding centre and nesting beach for the turtles on site. CHEC also monitored other marine mammals, ocean turbidity, noise pollution, and shoreline impacts.
- Land conflicts: MPS has been blamed for poor stakeholder management that triggered land conflicts between GPHA and Ave Maria Resort, a tourist facility in Tema. The frontage of the resort was bulldozed in October 2016 to make way for the port expansion. The resort took to social media to create awareness of the controversy. Subsequently, there was a legal tussle between GPHA and Ave Maria Resort, which delayed the port expansion project and eventually resulted in the demolition of the resort in April 2018.
The Tema Port Expansion Project employed several local Ghanaian experts. Through exposure to international construction standards and health, safety, and environmental (HSE) systems, the first phase of this project is considered by AECOM to have left a legacy. According to the company, these individuals, now re-entering the Ghanaian labour market, have acquired skills that will enable them to significantly contribute to Ghana’s long-term economic growth triggered by the expansion of the Tema Port. However, there have also been reports that aggrieved Ghanaian employees of CHEC protested against poor working conditions by laying down their tools in May 2017. They were outsourced by an employment agency called L’aine Services Limited and demanded direct employment by CHEC due to low and delayed salaries. Some workers reported receiving as little as 200 GHS (equivalent to roughly 46 USD based on the exchange rate in May 2017) as a basic salary, paid informally ‘over the counter’, while their Chinese counterparts were paid relatively higher amounts through a bank.
Beyond human resource development and its challenges, the environment was widely impacted by this project through its preparatory, construction, operation, and maintenance phases. The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the Tema Port Expansion Project in 2016 detailed its environmental impacts, which include air pollution, noise pollution, waste generation and disposal problems, and marine pollution. The ESIA report proposed mitigation measures to manage the environmental impacts. For instance, construction workers were trained in waste collection and management practices, speed limits were imposed to minimise dust generation at the construction site, and storm drainages were constructed to not discharge directly into the port’s waters.
One intervention implemented in response to these issues stands out. According to the ESIA, three species of sea turtles—the olive ridley, green and leatherback turtles—inhabit the port’s construction area. In October 2017 MPS initiated a monitoring program that included daily patrols of the construction area to identify any turtles nesting in the area and to ensure their eggs were protected. As a condition for the granting of the Environmental Protection Agency permit, the MPS and CHEC in collaboration with the Ghana Wildlife Society also built a sea turtle hatchery to protect the vulnerable marine reptiles under the Sea Turtle Conservation Program. The hatchery is located on a quiet sandy beach, with a conservation team monitoring it 24/7 to minimise the impact of construction noise and artificial lights on the sea turtles. According to the World Ports Sustainability Program, the conservation program has saved 117,527 turtle eggs and released 89,871 hatchlings into the ocean.
There was, however, some conflict and misunderstanding between GPHA and locals over land. The case of GPHA versus Ave Maria Resort stands out. According to a respondent in Eric Tamatey Lawer’s study on stakeholder participation in the port expansion project, GPHA engaged with the resort’s management before the project began. Initially, GPHA indicated that Ave Maria would not be affected by the expansion project and that it should seize the opportunity to upgrade its facilities to an international standard, as GPHA intended to integrate it into the expansion project. Later, however, media reports indicated that GPHA used intimidation tactics to forcefully remove the resort. This resulted in the harassment of Ave Maria staff, who had their phones taken, security guards were locked up, and the facility was blockaded by armed guards during the demolition operations. Following a court judgement on 12 October 2017, the court ordered that: 1) the management of Ave Marie Resort vacate the premises; 2) GPHA sign an undertaking committing to pay compensation once the ruling was made; and 3) an independent valuator would determine the compensation to be paid. According to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, the court awarded 12.7 million GHS (approximately 2.7 million USD in 2018), which was paid to Ave Maria Resort in three instalments, with final payments made in September 2018.
In-Depth Sources
de Boer, Wiebe P., Jill H. Slinger, Arno K. wa Kangeri, Heleen S.I. Vreugdenhill, Poonam Taneja, Kwasi Appeaning Addo, and Tiedo Vellinga. 2019. ‘Identifying Ecosystem-Based Alternatives for the Design of a Seaport’s Marine Infrastructure: The Case of Tema Port Expansion in Ghana.’ Sustainability 11(6633): 1–19. Link.
Lawer, Eric Tamatey. 2019. ‘Examining Stakeholder Participation and Conflicts Associated with Large Scale Infrastructure Projects: The Case of Tema Port Expansion Project, Ghana.’ Maritime Policy & Management 46(6): 735–56. Link.
Paish, Finlo, and Anthony Moroney. 2022. ‘Planning and Delivering a Major Expansion of the Tema Container Port in Ghana.’ Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers—Civil Engineering 175(6): 56–63. Link.