Tema Port leads container traffic, handling over 95%
By Praisebell Rosemond Larbi
Ghana’s container traffic has reached its highest point in a decade, positioning the country as one of West Africa’s most important maritime trade hubs.
According to the latest statistics released by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), total container throughput rose sharply from 793,737 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2014 to a projected 1,701,246 TEUs in 2024.
A closer look at the data reveals the overwhelming dominance of Tema Port, which has consistently handled more than 95 per cent of national container traffic.
In 2024 alone, Tema processed 1,668,688 TEUs, compared with just 32,558 TEUs recorded at Takoradi Port.
This entrenches Tema’s status as the country’s leading gateway for international maritime commerce and underscores its central role in sustaining Ghana’s logistics ecosystem.
The trend over the past decade highlights both steady expansion and periods of volatility in container flow. Ghana first crossed the one-million TEU mark in 2016, after which volumes climbed steadily before a significant surge in 2020.
This momentum peaked at more than 1.56 million TEUs in 2021, making it a record year at the time.
However, a slowdown followed in 2022 and 2023, largely due to global supply chain challenges.
Despite these setbacks, the sector rebounded strongly in 2024, posting an all-time high of over 1.7 million TEUs.
The GPHA’s data points to a structural challenge: the heavy concentration of container traffic at Tema Port. With Takoradi handling less than 5 per cent of national volumes, there are growing calls for diversification and capacity upgrades at Ghana’s second port to balance the load and spread the economic benefits more evenly across the coastal regions.
