Profile of VLTC

VLTC was incorporated on February 23, 1970, under the companies code, 1963 (Act 179), as a joint venture of VRA (51%) and two foreign companies, Elder Dempster Line of England (24.5%) and Scanlake of Denmark (24.5%). The foreign partners were nominated as commercial partners with responsibility for the management of the company.   The company was subsequently issued a certificate to commence business, effective 9th March 1970 by the Registrar of Companies.

In 1976 due to a slump in economic activities in the country, the foreign partners sold their shares to the VRA, which thus became the sole shareholder on behalf of the Ghana Government. In addition to being the sole shareholder, VRA is empowered by Act 46, 1961 to develop and maintain the waterway for lake transportation.

Our Mandate

VLTC was established with the following objectives:

• To operate as public carriers of all forms of water-borne transport including hovercraft, for persons and/or freight on the Volta Lake.
• To act as ship owners, charterers, warehousemen, storekeepers, bailees, wharfingers, lighter men, and stevedores.
• To operate such other forms of transport including rail and road transport as may be necessary for or ancillary to the business of the company.
• To do such other things or act as may be necessary for carrying out the business of the company.

Our Operations

The operations of the Company fall under two main areas:

• North/South Operations:

  North/South operations link the two in-land ports of Akosombo (South) and Buipe (North). The North/South operations involve the transportation of both liquid, solid cargo and passengers.
  Prospects for Wet/Liquid Cargo Operations:
  Currently with one pusher tug, the ‘MV Buipe with two VLTC petroleum barges and two BOST petroleum barges with total storage capacity of 3200 m3, the company has the capacity of transporting 90,310 m3 (76,800 tonnes) from Akosombo to Buipe, annually if the product were to be available.   

  Prospects for Dry Cargo Operations:
  With one pusher tug and three barges which are in good condition supported by appropriate forklift trucks, VLTC has the capacity to transport 2,250 tonnes per week, or approximately 80,000 metric tons of solid cargo annually on the Akosombo to Buipe trip. This can in theory be doubled per year if cargo can be obtained for the Buipe to Akosombo leg. Reviews of previous performance records once again show that the company hardly achieves even 30% of this potential annually due to unavailability of cargo.

  Cement now constitutes almost exclusively the solid cargo transported by the company. Previously, significant quantities of fertilizer and cotton were transported on the northward and southward trips respectively. Due to the decline in cotton farming in the north, this business has been lost entirely.  Most of the sheanut business has been lost to transporters from Burkina Faso on their trips to the Tema Port.

• Ferry Crossing Services

  VLTC operates cross ferry services at five (5) areas namely: Adawso (Eastern Region), Yeji (Brono- East Region), Kete-Krachi (Oti Region), Agordeke (Eastern Region) and Dambai (Oti Region).

  Prospects for Ferry Operations:
  The ferry services are mainly regarded as the social responsibility by the Government of Ghana towards communities displaced and cut off from existing road connections after the construction of the Volta Dam and the subsequent creation of the lake. Tariffs charged for the services have therefore never been able to cover direct operational as well as depreciation costs since tariffs set in recent times have been reduced after insistence from the local authorities.
  

  The company operates five (5) ferry crafts - "MV Millennium Challenge" at Adawso, "MV Nana Mprah Besemuna" at Yeji, "MV Senchi" at Dambai, "MV  Damen Ferry" at Agordeke and "MV Freedom and Justice" at Kete-Krachi. There is also one ferry that is currently at the Akosombo Port waiting to be refurbished – “MV Ndewura Jakpa” as well as "MV Akrade" currently docked at Yeji.

 

VLTC’s Competitive Advantage

It is a well acknowledged fact that water provides the most cost effective mode for the transport of goods through the economy of scale it offers compared to other modes of transport. VLTC’s operations on the Volta Lake are therefore more competitively priced compared to road transport which dominates the transport of goods and services.

The company's price competitiveness is particularly evident in the haulage of bulk cargo fuel and cement from Akosombo to Buipe, a distance of 415 kilometres. The freight paid to VLTC for the haulage of fuel to Buipe is normally set and approved by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) at 60 % of the rates approved for Bulk Road vehicles (BRV) and currently stands at 0.172470418Gp per litre of product for the trip. Given that the company is able to transport a minimum of 1.5 million litres weekly with its two (2) fuel barges, VLTC's fuel operations could potentially lead to more than GHS258,705 per week provided the vessels are in good condition. Each trip undertaken by VLTC also implies the withdrawal of the equivalent of 50 BRV’s from the country’s roads, leading to less damage to roads and fewer road accidents.

With respect to the haulage of cement, VLTC currently charges GH¢48.40 per tonne for the trip of 415 km. This compares favorably with what is paid by GHACEM to road transporters for transporting cement for a distance of 721 km. In addition, each trip undertaken by VLTC again implies the non use of the equivalent of 50 articulated road trucks on our roads.

To improve the company's efficiency in the transportation of cement on the North/South route, efforts must be made to obtain cargo for the return trip, i.e. Buipe to Akosombo, without increasing the overall return trip time. Previous efforts in this direction have been largely unsuccessful due to the erratic delivery of the return cargo at Buipe, and its uncoordinated evacuation from Akosombo by customers. This situation often led to overall loss in revenue to the company. To redress this problem, scheduled and well coordinated deliveries at Buipe, and prompt evacuation from Akosombo, are required.

The key determinant of efficiency in VLTC’s North/South operations is the return trip time, or vessel turnaround time. This determinant has three components, namely; loading time, sailing time and unloading time. Currently average vessel turnaround times for the transport of liquid and solid cargo are fifteen (15) days and twenty (21) days respectively. The additional two days spent on each trip transporting solid cargo is explained by the use of forklifts in loading and unloading solid cargo compared with the use of pumps and pipeline for liquid cargo. With investment in additional forklifts trucks at Akosombo and Buipe ports, it will be possible to reduce the return trip time for solid cargo to six (6) days and hence increase annual throughout.


VLTC’s operational assets consists of two pusher tugs; Volta Queen and Buipe Queen, and three solid cargo and two petroleum barges that were constructed in 1985-1988, and a combined passenger cum cargo vessel, the Yapei Queen for the North-South operations which was rehabilitated in 1995 , through assistance from the German Govt.'s KFW. The company also operates five (5) ferry crafts; "MV Millennium Challenge" at Adawso, "MV Nana Mprah Besemuna" at Yeji, "MV Senchi" at Dambai, Damen ferry at Agordeke and "MV Freedom and Justice" at Kete-Krachi. There is also one ferry that is currently at the Akosombo Port waiting to be refurbished.

The Company also has a floating dock for the maintenance and repairs of the vessels.
The Government through the Ministry of Transport has acquired three (3), 52-seater water buses and a modular ferry to augment the fleet of vessels and expand its route network.

The state of the equipment is very precarious. The engines on both "MV Buipe Queen" and "MV Volta Queen" are now weak and need to be replaced as soon as possible.

Despite the best efforts of the technical staff, however, the poor state of the key equipment has impacted negatively on the company’s credibility with major customers. Return trip duration for the "MV Buipe Queen" on the North/South route now averages twenty - one (21) days. Deliveries of cement and petroleum products have therefore frequently fallen behind schedule leading to loss of confidence by main clientele

 

Market

VLTC's market for its services comprises the following:

• Inter-regional trade between the South/East and Northern parts of the country which is served by the North/South lake traffic.
• Local/Domestic market in the lake catchment area served by cross-lake ferry services.

 

Pricing

• Ferry Stations: Tariffs are determined by VLTC.
• North/South Route: Solid Cargo - Tariffs are determined by negotiation between VLTC and its major clients
  Liquid Cargo - Tariff is set by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).