Supporting Ghana’s Maritime Growth Through Safety Of Navigation And A Green Focus
The governments of Ghana and Denmark have agreed to continue their maritime collaboration into a third phase; 2022-2025.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
The governments of Ghana and Denmark have agreed to continue their maritime collaboration into a third phase; 2022-2025.
The Strategic Sector Cooperation in Maritime started in 2015.
The Minister of Transport, Mr. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, along with the Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr. Thomas Kofi Alonso, and the Director-General Andreas Nordseth from the Danish Maritime Authority, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a three-year collaboration on 31 May 2022 in Accra.
The contract was also signed by the Danish Minister for Industry, Business, and Financial Affairs.
The third phase of the Strategic Sector Cooperation in Maritime will focus on enhancing navigational safety on Lake Volta through the use of digital infrastructure to support the presentation of dangerous areas on Lake Volta.
The strategy would ensure compliance with international standards on commercial fishing and build capacity development of Ghanaian pilots and tugboat masters in Port of Tema to further optimize daily operations and public-private collaboration.
It would also contribute to the green transition in the maritime industry by aiding Ghana’s green agenda and making the Port of Tema a recognized Green Port and the preferred transshipment hub in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These are in furtherance of the Letter of Intent signed between the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Accra on 24 November 2021.
The two countries are committed to enhancing collaboration on maritime safety and compliance with international standards, as well as ensuring a greater focus on the use of environmentally sustainable solutions.
Again, both countries pledged to work on the Zero Emission Shipping goal to ensure that ships capable of running on zero-emission fuels make up at least 5% of the global deep-sea fleet by 2030.
“Our objective is to promote sustainability, green growth, and enhancement of the Ghana maritime sector through our world-class Danish solutions”. - Andreas Nordseth, Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority, said during the signing ceremony.
“This collaboration is enhancing the work of the GMA, adding to our continuous effort of making the Port of Tema the best in West and Central Africa, whilst ensuring the safety of navigation on Lake Volta and thee the sea”. - Director-General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr. Thomas Kofi Alonso.
“The project complements Denmark’s broad maritime agenda of promoting safe and secure maritime domain awareness in West Africa, which will translate into a more efficient sea-borne trade”.- H. E. Tom Nørring, Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana.
For the thematic area concerning enhancing navigational safety on Lake Volta, the Danish Geodata Agency will support as a subcontractor and will utilize the newest technologies at sea and data from satellites.
“At the Danish Geodata Agency, we strive to use new technologies and data-driven workflows to improve the safety of navigation at sea.
These can be essential tools to map navigational hazards on Lake Volta, and we are therefore happy to support this maritime collaboration.” - Pia Dahl Højgaard, Director General of the Danish Geodata Agency.
