Yilport Holding, a global port and terminal operator, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to operate the Takoradi Port in Ghana, starting from April 2023.
The agreement was signed by Yilport Holding’s chairman & CEO Robert Yuksel Yildirim, chairman of Takoradi Port’s operating company Ibis Tek, Kwame Gyan and director of Ibis Tek, Nana Yaw Boahene during a ceremony on 11 January in Istanbul, Turkey.
Yilport and Ibis Tek will establish a joint venture company to invest in and operate Ghana's port. The new company will be named Yilport Takoradi Port Management Company, in which Yilport will hold a 70% stake and Ibis Tek will own the remaining 30%.
The project scope is to develop the existing container terminal in three phases to increase its capacity to 2.25 million TEUs annually.
The joint venture company, under the vision and management of YILPORT, will also develop multipurpose berths for liquid, bulk, and general cargo operations for about 20 million tons of annual handling capacity.
Yilport considers building new access roads and gate facilities for Takoradi Port in order to increase handling capacity and avoid traffic congestion and also plans to invest over US$700 million in three phases to build and operate a state-of-the-art port complex.
Moreover, Yilport Takoradi Port will have another two terminals, the Tacotel Inland Terminal, a container handling facility of 270,000 m² two kilometres away from the port and Marshall Oil Jetty Terminal. Additionally, Yilport plans to build a tank farm to handle 2.5 million tons of liquid products annually.
Among the plans for the upgrade of the port is the expansion of the total length of the berths to 2.5 kilometres and the deepening of the draft between 14 and 16.5 metres.
Robert Yuksel Yildirim stated, "Takoradi Port will be Yilport's first step into the African continent, and it will be a gemstone in our vision to rank among the top 10 global container terminal operators by 2030. Takoradi Port has great potential to serve the African and Atlantic marine trade."
