ACCRA, Ghana – The Ghana Cocoa Board has named MSC Ghana the Shipping Line of the Year at the third edition of the Ghana Cocoa Awards. It is the first time a shipping line has been recognised at the prestigious annual ceremony, making MSC the first container carrier to win such an award.
“I am delighted the incredible work of our Ghanian agency has been honoured in this significant way,” said MSC Ghana managing director Peter Ehrenreich. “Across the MSC family, we are dedicated to providing the best service possible through consistency, reliability and sustainability. Our success in Ghana proves our innovative and collaborative policy sets the standard worldwide and, as we look to the future, I know we will continue to raise the bar.”
Safe and reliable logistics solutions
Ghana is widely recognised as producing some of the best cocoa beans globally and has recently seen a significant production upswing of the commodity, which was already its biggest export. MSC began loading cocoa beans and other cocoa products out of Ghana in June 2007, and now leads the field in volume with a 35% market share. The line transports around 13,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of beans and 4,500 TEUs of other cocoa products from Ghana’s Tema and Takoradi ports annually. The beans are shipped exclusively by the board’s subsidiary, the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), while the other products are also shipped by various cocoa-processing companies.
“In the last year alone, Ghanaian cocoa production has hit over a million tonnes; its highest level in 10 years,” explained Jerry Doe, Export Sales Manager MSC Tema. “As the export leader, MSC is at the forefront of this, helping the Ghana Cocoa Board achieve its ambitious goals. Our reliability in ensuring empty and clean food-grade containers is an integral part of our success, with our dedicated staff reliably ensuring we can upgrade our containers locally on the ground.”
A global collaboration
Despite ongoing global industry supply chain issues, MSC’s Ghanaian agency has also provided prompt and innovative solutions to safeguard trade flow, supported by other MSC teams around the world.
“I believe the availability and reliability of our vessels last year is a significant factor in winning this award,” added Devine MacCarthy, General Manager of MSC Takoradi. “Despite the circumstances, we have continued to provide a vessel schedule that the Ghana Cocoa Board can trust and personnel they can rely on. We have also, simultaneously, helped them expand into new markets, including India and Australia, by providing forward-thinking global expertise when they need it.”
Celebrating excellence in shipping
An independent jury of three voted for the awards, based on a shortlist of nominees created by a technical committee. For its 37 different categories, the 2021 awards reviewed the period from October 2020 to September 2021, considering a wide range of criteria, including professional brand management, consumption preference with a decisive majority, innovation, strategy, consistency, trustworthiness and sustainability. The other nominees in the category of Shipping Line of the Year were MAERSK, CMA CGM, COSCO and GRIMALDI.
Looking ahead, MSC hopes to maintain its position as the market leader in Ghana and continue to meet the needs of CMC. MSC will also co-host with CMC at the 2022 CMC Cocoa Freight Negotiations in Sorrento, Italy, in September 2022.
