The study distributed questionnaires among 32 respondents across the port industry in Ghana which included the freight forwarders, shipping agents, Burkina /Mail chamber of commerce, Ghana importers association, cargo owners, port and harbours Authority, Haulage transport association, private terminal operators, Ghana Railway Development Authority, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Trade and Industry. Out of the 32 questionnaires administered, only 30 were answered completely since the respondents had the liberty to skip questions they did not want to respond to. Thus, there was a response rate of 93.75%. Two respondents representing 6.25% did not meet the standard for the study and therefore, their responses were rejected. The respondents are sufficient representation of the population since they are lead members in the Ghanaian freight transport System and have in-depth information. Therefore, the response rate of 93.75% authenticates Joppe’s (
2000) proclamation that a response rate greater than 50% is adequate for generalization. However small the sample size is, it covered all the representatives of the various actors within the port industries. Therefore, the study outcome can be generalized across Ghana and other developing countries within the Sub-Saharan African Region.
Perceived potential impact of Boankra inland port project on the freight transport sector in Ghana
The respondents ranked the level of congestion at the Ghanaian seaports based on their level of knowledge, understanding, and perception. Table
1 below represents the outcome of the responses:
Table 1
There is high congestion at the sea ports
Strongly disagree | 2 | 6.7 |
Neither agree nor disagree | 2 | 6.7 |
Agree | 19 | 63.3 |
Strongly agree | 7 | 23.3 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
To obtain the impact of the Boankra inland port project on the freight transport sector in Ghana, a question was posed to find out whether there is a high congestion level at the seaports. Seven of the respondents strongly agreed and 19 of the respondents agreed that the Tema and Takoradi Seaports face congestion problems. However, 2 people out of the 30 respondents neither agreed nor disagreed whiles 2 people also strongly disagreed with that fact. From the above information, it was observed that the majority of the respondents are of the view that there is high congestion at the seaports. Having established that the seaports in Ghana face congestion, the study’s objective becomes much more relevant as the potential influence of the Boankra inland port on the decongestion of the seaports can be examined. Oyatoye et al. (
2011) argued that traffic through the seaports increase as the economic development of the country develops. Fan et al. (
2012) also revealed that congestion exists at most ports and it results in increased costs and diversion of traffic to other ports. Therefore, this study confirms that port congestion continues to persist in ports, at least, the Ghanaian seaports. Considering the argument made by Oyatoye et al. (
2011), it can be explained that the increase in the volume of trade and the growth in international trade in Ghana is a reason for the persisting congestion at the Tema and Takoradi seaports.
From Table
2, all the respondents agreed to the fact that the port will increase the skills of the staff. From the respondents, before the kick-start of the Boankra inland port project, workshops, and training were given to the inland port implementing staff and this has given them more opportunity to learn and increase their skills. Eighteen of the respondent strongly agreed and 12 respondents agreed to this fact. No respondent disagreed with the statement. It implies that the Boankra inland port project will not only provide shipping infrastructure but will also strengthen the capacity of the human force within the freight transport industry in Ghana. A strengthened human force will also have the capacity to influence the competence of the workforce (Gong et al.
2009) which in turn will have a positive influence on the efficiency of the Ghanaian freight transport industry. This reveals that the Boankra inland port has the potential to impact the freight transport system in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa (Table
3).
Table 2
The Boankra inland port has increased skills of staff
Agree | 12 | 40.0 |
Strongly agree | 18 | 60.0 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Table 3
Use of advanced management information systems
Neither disagree nor agree | 1 | 3.3 |
Agree | 15 | 50.0 |
Strongly agree | 14 | 46.7 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
For a freight transport system to operate effectively and efficiently, it must have a well-structured management information system to track the progress of the activities within it. Through the implementation of the Boankra inland port, there will be intensive use of a more advanced management information system than when the inland port was not proposed. This information was obtained from the 29 respondents who agreed to the fact that the port will have an impact on the freight sector through the use of a management information system. However, 1 person among the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that an enhanced Information System at the Boankra Inland Port will influence the decongestion and efficiency of the Sea Ports. The freight forwarders and the Burkina Faso Chamber of Commerce revealed explained that here will be real-time information and accurate data which will facilitate clearance at the seaports. The freight transport sector is an industry where new digital applications are integrated into the daily operations and practices in a more slowly manner (Inkinen et al.
2019). Kia et al. (
2000) defined that information technology is an important component of port operations for the rapid and accurate transfer and processing of the larger volume of information that is handled by the actors within the freight Transport System. Therefore, the incorporation of the management information system into the Inland Port project is a basic necessity for the functioning of the port.
Policies are said to be laid down rules that govern the activities within an entity. Table
4 shows that the formation of powerful policies is useful in port decongestion processes (Munford
1980). Per the responses derived from the respondents, 10 of the respondents strongly agreed, 16 agreed, 3 neither agreed nor disagreed whiles 1 person strongly disagreed. From the analysis above, it implies that the establishment of the Boankra inland port will result in the formation of powerful policies useful in the port decongestion process. These policies that are being developed as a result of the implementation of the Boankra inland port project, from the perspective of the respondents, will help solve the loopholes and the weaknesses in the already existing policies. The development of the policies will also help solve the staff – customer problems and the problems associated with decongestion (Table
5).
Table 4
Formation of powerful policies useful in decongestion process
Strongly disagree | 1 | 3.3 |
Neither agree nor disagree | 3 | 10.0 |
Agree | 16 | 53.3 |
Strongly agree | 10 | 33.3 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Table 5
Adaptation of new technologies in cargo handling process
Strongly Disagree | 2 | 6.7 |
Agree | 11 | 36.7 |
Strongly Agree | 17 | 56.7 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Adaptation of new technologies simply means employing different and improved ways of doing things. This new technology will help speed up the activities of the port users. Through the establishment of the Boankra inland port, new technologies will be adopted in the industry which will promote the activities of the sector. This information was agreed by most of the respondents when the statement was posed to them in an attempt to find out the impact of the port on freight services. From the respondents, obsolete technologies were more in the sector but through the implementation of the inland port project, new technologies are being introduced, which are helping speed up their work. However, two people among the respondents opposed strongly to the fact that the implementation of the Boankra Inland project involves the adaptation of new technologies in cargo handling (Table
6).
Table 6
Increase quality of road infrastructure
Strongly disagree | 4 | 13.3 |
Neither agree or disagree | 4 | 13.3 |
Agree | 15 | 50.0 |
Strongly agree | 7 | 23.3 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
The study took a look at the impact of the establishment of the Boankra inland port on the quality of road infrastructure. It was revealed that there has already been some massive impact of the inland port project on the quality of road infrastructure. Respondents mentioned that through the development of the inland port project, there has been an improvement in the road transport infrastructure through the redesign and expansion of the current road network to accommodate more vehicles into the project site. A typical example that solidifies the responses of the respondents is the recent rehabilitation of the Accra – Kumasi highway because of the Boankra Inland Port. The potential high usage of heavy-duty trucks to carry freight from the inland port to different parts of the country and beyond has created the need to increase the quality of the roads within Ghana. This finding was revealed by 22 respondents who agreed that there is an increase in the quality of road infrastructure. Four of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed whiles 4 persons strongly disagreed with the statement. From the above analysis, it implies that there is a potentially strong impact of the Boankra inland port on the effectiveness and efficiency of the general freight sector (Table
7).
Table 7
Reduced bureaucracy in clearing processes at the sea port
Disagree | 1 | 3.3 |
Strongly disagree | 3 | 10.0 |
Neither disagree nor agree | 1 | 3.3 |
Agree | 10 | 33.3 |
Strongly agree | 15 | 50.0 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
In most government institutions, there is a high level of bureaucracy and the same can be said for the Ghanaian seaports. This creates unnecessary delays in the clearing processes. Customers mostly complained about the long government processes they go through before discharging their goods which in turn affects their businesses negatively. However, 83.3% of the respondents emphasized the fact that unlike previously when customers became discouraged because of the processes they go through before discharging their goods, the establishment of the Boankra inland port will drastically reduce the bureaucracy in the clearing processes (Table
8).
Table 8
Privatization of container handling processes
Disagree | 2 | 6.7 |
Strongly disagree | 2 | 6.7 |
Neither disagree nor agree | 3 | 10.0 |
Agree | 15 | 50.0 |
Strongly agree | 8 | 26.7 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Privatization used in this study refers to entrusting the operation and management of container handling to private firms. The inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the government to manage containers led to the clustering of containers around the port. It was revealed by the respondents that the control of the port by the government contributes to the reason why the containers were clustered at the ports because there was lesser control over the port activities. However, 76.7% of the respondents agreed from their responses that there is the need to privatize the process of container handling. The respondents indicated that this will help reduce the current problems associated with container handling at the Ghanaian Sea Ports. 10% of the respondents neither disagreed nor agreed. However, 13.4% of the respondents disagreed the inland port will result in the privatization of the container handling processes.
As shown in Table
9, it was agreed by all the participants that the establishment of the Boankra inland port will allow the management of the seaports to actively monitor the movement of trucks in and out of the port through the institution of proper transit monitoring information system at the port area. This system is proposed to monitor the loading of trucks and the movement of containers at the depots. As a result, the trucks will leave the inland port and the seaports without human interference. It was also mentioned that as a way of overcoming the problem of congestion, the seaport management to some extent, will be actively involved in monitoring freight transit from the inland port to the seaports through a freight monitoring system.
Table 9
Use of freight monitoring system
Agree | 12 | 40.0 |
Strongly agree | 18 | 60.0 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Table
10 shows the outcome of the impact of the inland port on ship arrival and departure time. From the majority of the respondents, there will be the use of appointment systems for trains, trucks, and ships’ arrival and departure. This will help the authorities to pre-inform owners of the freight on board to be available within the said time of arrival or departure for clearing procedures to avoid congestion at the port. This will make cargo receiving agents at the seaports and inland ports to handle cargoes on time and clear them from the port within the shortest possible time. Notwithstanding the high level of agreement from the respondents, 2 of the respondents disagreed with the statement that there will be the use of appointment systems for freight arrival and Departure whiles 1 respondent neither agreed nor disagreed (Table
11).
Table 10
Use of appointment systems for ship arrival and departure
Disagree | 1 | 3.3 |
Strongly disagree | 1 | 3.3 |
Neither disagree nor agree | 1 | 3.3 |
Agree | 12 | 40.0 |
Strongly agree | 15 | 50.0 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
Table 11
Increased efficiency and speed of the crane
Agree | 16 | 53.3 |
Strongly agree | 14 | 46.7 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
From the analysis, it was revealed that the Boankra inland port will also increase the efficiency and speed of the cranes which will, in turn, improve the freight services at the inland port. This was obtained when all the 30 respondents agreed to the statement that the Boankra inland port will increase the efficiency and speed of cranes at the port.
From Table
12, 29 respondents agreed to the statement that there will be greater use of space-efficient packing/handling equipment. It was revealed that the Boankra inland port will have a total land area of about 400 acres around the port. This will provide enough space for efficient parking and handling of equipment. This will also reduce the congestion rate that occurs at the seaports since a substantial amount of cargo received by the seaports will be transferred to the inland port which will also in effect be cleared timely.
Table 12
Greater use of space-efficient packaging/handing equipment
Strongly disagree | 1 | 3.3 |
Agree | 16 | 53.3 |
Strongly agree | 13 | 43.3 |
Total | 30 | 100.0 |
The Boankra inland port project has gained positive support from the key actors in the freight transport system that it will impact positively on the seaports, the inland port itself, and the freight industry at large. From the results discussed above, the Boankra inland port will reduce the bureaucratic processes at the seaports, increase the quality of road infrastructure, reduce the congestion rate and the pressure on the other ports and will also enhance the movement of freights to neighboring landlocked countries.
Challenges in the Ghanaian freight transport system
This section of the analysis presents the challenges in the freight transport industry revealed by the respondents and how these challenges affect the Boankra inland port project in Ghana.
Descriptive statistics were used to statistically measure the outcome of these items used to measure the challenges affecting the Freight Transport system and the Boankra Inland Port, using mean and percentages. The mean scores were used to rank the various challenges in order of magnitude, ranging from the most pressing challenge to the least pressing challenge. The item with the highest mean is the major factor that affects the freight forwarding transport system in Boankra and the variable with the lowest mean score is considered as the less significant challenge in the freight forward system.
“Poor understanding of logistics as a distinct management function” was ranked as the most pressing challenge among all the variables with a mean score of 4.6. Twelve respondents representing 40% agreed whiles 18 respondents representing (60%) strongly agreed to the statement. This could be attributed to the fact that the Boankra inland port in its nature is a virgin port system and therefore lacks the necessary organizational structures. Nevertheless, the challenge persists in the current seaports in Ghana. It indicates that less knowledge or importance is attached to the logistics function. Failure to understand logistics as a distinct strategic function within the Ghanaian Freight system is a big challenge to the growth of the system.
Also, the result shows that “inefficiencies and distortions in the trading system” are ranked the second most challenging factor hindering the seaports. The item had a mean score of 4.43 out of 5 and this item was agreed by 93.4% of the respondents whiles 2 respondents representing 6.6% disagreed. This was followed by the “unnecessary bureaucratic procedures at the ports” with a mean score of 4.40: 28 respondents representing 93.4% strongly agreed whiles 2 respondents representing 6.6% disagreed with the statement. In most government institutions there is a high level of bureaucracy, which the ports are of no exception. This creates unnecessary delays in the clearing processes. Customers (freight forwarders) complained about the long clearing processes they go through before discharging their goods which affect their businesses and the businesses of their clients negatively.
“Weak regulatory framework,” “Poor quality control” and “cumbersome customs procedures and poor articulation of total quality management” were ranked as the pressing challenges following the above-mentioned challenges. The respondents indicated that the “weak regulatory framework” is as a result of the continual change in government. This has resulted in inefficiency and a lack of expansion in the freight transport industry.
“Inadequately skilled staff” and “high level of political instability” were ranked eighth with mean scores of 4.10 each: 93% agreed that skilled staffs still in the industry are not enough to cater to all the needs of customers. The respondents indicated that it is so because of the government’s inability to employ more staff.
“Lack of capital” is another challenge facing ports in Ghana. A discussion with one respondent revealed that the port needs a huge amount of money to procure new and ultra-modern high-speed machinery like forklifts and cranes to carry out the operations of the inland ports when it starts operation. The respondent explained that these items are too expensive to procure by the port management since they do not have enough funds to procure. The respondents called on the government to intervene in the procurement of these items for the ports. 86.7% of the respondents representing 28 respondents agreed that lack of capital is a challenge in the Ghanaian ports industry whiles 2 respondents representing 13.3% disagreed with the statement. The respondents revealed that the procurement of these machinery and auto operations of the port activities will highly decrease theft and cargo breakage situation at the ports, increase the speed of shipping and offloading cargos at the port, simplifies the clearing procedures by making it free from corruption and eventually increase the quality of service delivery within the freight transport industry.
In conclusion, the Ghanaian ports have been hindered by various factors including the poor understanding of logistics as a distinct management function, inefficiencies and distortions in the trading system, and unnecessary bureaucratic procedures. All these challenges need to be addressed to ensure better implementation and functioning of the Boankra inland port. The challenges revealed in the study are presented in Table
13. These challenges discovered in this study holds for the port system in most developing economies, especially those in West Africa.
Table 13
Challenges of the Ghanaian freight transport system
Inefficiencies and distortions in the trading system | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.43 | 93% | 6.6% | 2nd |
Weak regulatory framework | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.33 | 93.6% | 6.6% | 4th |
Lack of capital / funds for infrastructure | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.23 | 86.7% | 13.3% | 7th |
Use of Low management Information system/ Technology | 30 | 1 | 5 | 3.33 | 70% | 30% | 12th |
Inadequacy of staffs | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.10 | 93.4% | 6.6% | 8th |
Lack of continuity of government policies | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.27 | 93.4% | 6.6% | 6th |
Poor quality control and cumbersome customs procedures | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.33 | 96.3% | 3.3% | 4th |
Poor application of just in time principle | 30 | 1 | 5 | 3.93 | 83.7% | 16.7% | 11th |
Poor articulation of total quality management | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.33 | 93.4% | 6.6% | 4th |
Poor understanding of logistics as a distinct management function | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.60 | 100% | 0 | 1st |
High level of Political instability | 30 | 1 | 5 | 4.10 | 83.7% | 16.7% | 8th |
Incompetence among stakeholders | 30 | 2 | 5 | 4.00 | 83.7% | 16.7% | 10th |
Unnecessary bureaucratic procedures | 30 | 2 | 5 | 4.40 | 93.4% | 6.6% | 3rd |