Ghana: Chinese vessel accused of smuggling allowed to offload cargo of cement

Authorities at the Ghanaian port of Tema have allowed a Chinese-registered vessel – the Guo Tou 106 – to offload 5000t of bagged cement, having previously accused the crew of attempting to smuggling the cargo into the country, Ghanaweb reports.

The vessel was originally allowed to berth at Tema port on 19 November, but irregularities with the ship’s manifest led to suggestions that the crew was attempting to import cement without a licence.

Since then, the proper licence has been obtained and the ship permitted to offload its cement cargo.

“There’s no arrest on the vessel, there’s no issue with the vessel, only that, from my investigation I learnt that the importer’s permit to discharge that cement had expired so she was not given the permission to discharge cement in Ghana,” said the Master of Tema Port, Captain Richard Quayeson.

“Tema Port has not got any issue with any vessel, they did the application, they did e-booking, it was approved, they did everything as required by the port regulations, our only issue is that we are expecting to discharge about 38000 tons of cargo but now we are discharging 5000 tons,” he said.