The race for control of shipping routes between Europe, South America and sub-Saharan Africa has entered a decisive phase. Meridian Port Services (MPS), operator of the major terminal at Ghana’s Port of Tema, has warned that the competitiveness of the region’s logistics hub depends on maintaining the pace of investment in heavy infrastructure, automation and connectivity. Ghana’s operational advance is putting direct pressure on the position of the Canary Islands’ port network, which is watching as ports in the Gulf of Guinea accelerate efforts to attract ultra-large container ships and threaten its dominance in transshipment and auxiliary logistics services.
MPS management, backed by the official visit of the French diplomatic delegation led by Ambassador Diarra Dimé-Labille, has detailed the operational consolidation of Terminal 3 in Tema. The facility, equipped with 1,400 metres of continuous berth line, was specifically designed to handle up to four state-of-the-art container ships simultaneously, with lengths of up to 400 metres. The physical capacity to process these giants of the sea, which until just a few years ago depended on intermediate ports in the islands or North Africa for redistribution operations, is changing the dynamics of regional maritime transport.
Automated infrastructure and the energy transition in the African Atlantic
The technological gap that historically favoured the Canary Islands’ terminals over the African coastline is narrowing rapidly. Tema’s operating fleet has recently added three new heavy-duty ship-to-shore cranes and 16 fully electric rubber-tyred gantry cranes. This commitment to decarbonising port equipment is complemented by a transition to electric terminal trucks, a strategy aimed at reducing unit operating costs and ensuring environmental sustainability in response to the demands of major international shipping lines.
Cargo-traffic management at the Ghanaian quay is supported by a fully digitalised operating environment. A centralised control system monitors vessel manoeuvres and container handling in real time using optical character recognition (OCR), automatic vehicle identification, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking and biometric access systems. The implementation of an advance booking system for trucks and integrated electronic payments has eliminated the traditional congestion at land-side access points, raising supply-chain efficiency to European-equivalent standards.
The African Free Trade Agreement highlights the islands’ strategic role
The development of state-of-the-art infrastructure in the Gulf of Guinea is linked to the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). For industry analysts in the archipelago, the expansion of ports in sub-Saharan Africa does not invalidate the Canary Islands’ role, but it completely redefines its business model. The gradual removal of intra-African tariff barriers requires efficient transport networks, in which island facilities must specialise in higher-value-added services, highly complex ship repair and support for auxiliary fleets.
The transformation of ports along the West African coast into direct gateways is forcing the Canary Islands’ port authorities to redouble their efforts to retain key customers in bunkering, offshore maintenance and crew services. The existence of advanced infrastructure in the South Atlantic limits the margin for error for the archipelago’s docks, which must accelerate their own digitalisation and draft-deepening plans to avoid being relegated to a secondary role in regional cargo traffic.
Ghana’s technological leap challenges the Canary Islands’ ports: Automating terminals was first published on canarymaritime.com.
