Floating dock fully funded for Ghana

Financiers sign loan agreement

GHANA: A consortium, including the African Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement to extend $94 million in senior debt funding to PMD Assetco Limited (PMD) for the construction and operation of a floating dock ship repair facility in Ghana’s western Takoradi port.

With this milestone, the project, nicknamed “Shiprite,” has secured the total commitment of all providers for the required $137 million in capital. Other consortium members are the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and Petra Pension Schemes.

The scope of the Project consists of the construction of a 200-metre jetty adjacent to the floating dock pocket; dredging of 300,000 cubic metres of rock from the seabed within the port basin, procuring and installing a 13,500-ton lift capacity floating dock, and setting-up an integrated workshop comprising main offices (management, client, engineering, logistics, accounts administration and IT offices), a main warehouse, steel and pipe fabrication workshop, mechanical and electrical workshop, blasting and painting, and an equipment maintenance shop.

The facility will target various types of vessels including container vessels, bulk carriers, tankers, drilling rigs, as well as offshore support vessels. The repair and maintenance scope includes dockage, hull part, engine works, electrical, and general and auxiliary services.

“The strategic location of this facility will provide shipowners whose vessels trade within the Gulf of Guinea with world-class repair and maintenance services. As the Mandated Lead Arranger, we are confident that Shiprite will enhance intra-African trade and foster regional economic growth and integration. By providing services that would have otherwise been lost to foreign shipyard repair facilities, the interventions of Prime Meridian Docks will retain much-needed foreign currency within the continent,” said Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank, Afreximbank.

Over 400 new jobs are expected to be created, of which more than 15% will be reserved for youth and women.

Currently shipowners with operations in several countries in the region have to travel up to 5,500 km away to obtain the same services. The project will reduce the carbon footprint of shipowner operations as a result, in addition to generating forex, boosting the local economy, creating jobs, and improving infrastructure and logistics in Ghana.

“PMD Assetco is poised to commence the construction of both the civil works and the floating dock and looks forward to entering the market timeously to support shipowners in the region as international shipping works towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” noted Stanley Raja Korshie Ahorlu, the project’s Lead Sponsor.

PMD is a Ghanaian ship repair company with Free Zones Service Enterprise status and a 25-year concession from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. The company has benefited from the support of international partners and advisers over the past years.