The negotiation for the review of the Meridian Port Services (MPS) terminal 3 concession agreements ends in stalemate.
While the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has requested that it be allowed to handle 20 per cent of eligible vessels calling at the Tema Port to enable it to raise enough revenue to keep its workers and avoid job losses, the MPS contends that granting the request would amount to losing its investment protection.
Consequently, the MPS made an alternative proposal which include finding jobs for some GPHA workers that would lose their jobs, pay those who cannot be employed immediately for three years and retrain them to become employable in the future.
The Maritime and Dock Workers Union (MDU) of the Ghana Trade Union Congress at a press briefing here yesterday said after five meetings of the negotiating team made up of representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Union and the MPS, the latter maintained that it would not accept the proposal put forward by the GPHA.
According to the General Secretary of MDU, Mr Daniel Owusu Koranteng, though the terminal 3 project was a good one, the concession agreement was bad, adding that the Deed of Amendment provided that during the term, the concessionaire shall have the exclusive right to provide services to any eligible vessel entering the operational area.
It defined eligible vessel as any vessel which was a full container vessel or vessel carrying 200 twenty- foot equivalent units entering the operational area.
“The exclusivity clause is anti-competition meant to promote monopoly in the maritime industry and undermines the legal status of GPHA, the landlord of the Tema port with legal rights to set rates in the port, ” he said.
Mr Owusu- Koranteng argued that the concession agreement would result in an estimated revenue loss of US$ 474 million (40 per cent of operating revenue) annually to the GPHA.
Apart from that containers handled by GPHA (shore handling) operations will reduce by at least 60 per cent, while port dues, a major source of revenue for GPHA will decline by 90 per cent among other things.
Mr Koranteng said during the negotiations MPS maintained that it gained the concession agreement through a legal process which informed their strong position not to grant the modest request of the GPHA.
However, he reminded the MPS that having a legal license for the project was as important and necessary as having a social license which would ensure that the company operated on the triple bottom line of balancing its profit maximisation interest with the interest of the people and business in the maritime community and the environment.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng expressed the hope that shareholders of MPS would grant the modest demand by GPHA in the interest of peace and harmonious relationship.
He was worried that the Ghana Revenue Authority had placed the handling of reefer containers in the hands of the MPS though that was not part of the concession agreement.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng therefore called on government to reverse the arrangement and help resolve any problems with the project.
FROM GODFRED BLAY GIBBAH, TEMA