The Ministry of Aviation has assured the
public and stakeholders in the aviation industry that it is liaising
with the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Ghana Ports and Harbours
Authority (GPHA) to resolve the current aviation fuel shortage as soon
as possible.
In an interview with the Times yesterday, the
Director of Operations of the ministry, Mr Selby Twumasi-Ankra,
attributed the shortage to a leaking pipe that has affected the
production.
He said TOR and the Ghana Airports Company have duly
notified the airlines to make alternative arrangements while the
problem is being solved.
So far, he said, the shortage has not affected any flight yet and he was hopeful that it would be solved soon.
Meanwhile,
TOR has announced that plans are far advanced for the commissioning of
a 20,000 m3 Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) facility by the middle of
next month to ensure adequate supply to forestall a future shortage.
In
a statement signed by its Public Affairs Manager, Ms Aba Lokko, TOR
urged the Joint User Hydrant Installation (JUHI) to increase their
storage capacity at the airport.
It also asked GPHA to change the loading and discharging arms into flexible hoses as done elsewhere in the industry.
The
JUHI is a joint partnership between Shell and Total companies that
supply Aviation Fuel (AI) to airlines operating to and from Ghana.
The
statement explained that on Tuesday, May 20, during the loading and
discharge of the ATK at the Tema port, a leakage was detected.
"In
view of the imminent fire and environment hazard that could arise, it
became expedient to stop discharging and eliminate the leakage."
According
to the statement, JUHI was informed of the problem and GPHA set out
immediately to look for an appropriate crane to bring down the loading
and discharging arms to be fixed but without success.
As an
interim measure, the statement said, a cargo vessel was scheduled to
discharge gasoline cargo through an arm used in discharging fuel oil.
"This is intended to clean the discharging and loading arms and make them suitable to discharge ATK.
"We hope to discharge the ATK by (tomorrow) Saturday, May 31," the statement assured.
Earlier,
JUHI had said there was a complete "stock out" of aviation fuel (Jet
A1) in the country. It ran out on Monday May 26, and according to JUHI
the situation was becoming precarious.
It said its attempt at
lifting fuel from TOR had proved unproductive due to what TOR described
as technical hitches encountered in discharging 6,000 metric tons of
Jet A1 at the Oil jetty at the harbour.
A reliable source at the
JUHI told the Times that efforts at lifting some of the aviation fuel
from Lome, Togo had also proved futile because of the unavailability of
the product in that country.
JUHI said it has therefore advised airlines coming into the country to make alternative arrangements for aviation fuel.
However,
the source said internal flight operators are being serviced from the
emergency stock because of the low volume of intake of their light
aircraft.
Source: Ghanaian Times
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