GPHA to sink abandoned fishing vessel

A fishing vessel which has been abandoned at the Tema Fishing Harbour is posing a security threat to operations at the port.

The vessel, the MV Lady Faith, which was abandoned in 2010 without a minimum manning crew, has now become a hideout for drug peddlers and junkies, some of whom have turned it into a permanent place of abode.

Belonging to a Nigerian businessman identified only as Mr Obiku and consigned to Jofmak Shipping and Trading Limited, the vessel has since 2010 been sitting in the breakwaters at the port.

There are fears that the vessel's continued occupancy of the breakwaters could cause water to spill into the port.

The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has, therefore, served notice that it will discard and dump the vessel on the high seas, as several notices served the owners to remove it have not yielded any result.

Safety & security threat

The Director of Ports at the GPHA, Mr Jacob Kobla Adorkor, told the Daily Graphic in Tema that attempts by the GPHA over the past five years to get the owners to tow the vessel away had been unsuccessful.

He said the vessel, which arrived at the port on January 3, 2010, had become a safety and security threat to other vessels arriving at the port.

"Its position at the breakwaters could cause other vessels to sink, as it has started taking in water, and we have to engage people at our own cost to continually scoop water out of it.

"Apart from the safety of vessels, lives could also be lost and cargoes could sink should vessels run into it, hence the need to take it out of the port in the earliest possible time," he added.

Committee

Mr Adorkor said a committee set up on May 17, 2015, to investigate and reach out to the owners of the abandoned vessel also identified that there were 17 other vessels that arrived at the port's anchorage between 2012 and May 2015 and had remained there since, while another had been abandoned in the ballast at the Fishing Harbour.

He said while two of the vessels were under detention by a court, the others had failed to leave after discharging their cargoes.

He stressed that the committee, after several attempts to contact the owners of the vessels, recommended that the MV Lady Faith should be sunk on the high seas.

Jofmak

Mr Adorkor said during the committee's sittings, it came to light that the owner of the consignee agency, Jofmak, had lost its director and the company might have become defunct.

"It has become clear that the original owner, identified as Mr Obiku, may also not be interested in the vessel again, as several attempts made to reach out to him have been futile," he said.

Mr Adorkor added that the GPHA would have to spend heavily to salvage and dump the vessel in the shortest possible time in order not to obstruct navigation.