Member Info for Vander

His grand excellency president Akufo-Addo is undertaking a grand tour of Europe this week. He visited Marseille port yesterday- good to check out the competition. Let’s hope the rest helps his rheumatism and demeanour.

It is because of trump that WSG were offered the gig in the first place. There was no competitive tender. They fitted the profile of an SME without high dollar exposure. Similarly the polish company S4GA were in negotiation re Iran runway lighting contracts in 2017. They however did not make this the centrepiece of their business strategy for the next 2 years and did not promise a 25m euro per year contract

Cannacord are insiders. Foxy you are being very diplomatic

I agree that the positive risk scenario is that the contract will be signed next week and there will be no placing. There are other possible risk scenarios however are not discussed here. It is possible there will be delays whilst jobs are re-deployed and the port tariff hike is phased in slowly reducing the MPS cash flow. Also the remaining 6 yrs of the nick tc scan contract will have to be paid off at least partially

He confirmed that there was a ‘soft’ start- we know the training vessel is in use for some weeks to come
He confirmed (moreorless) that a placing is due
He appeared relaxed - his timeframe of 30-40 days was not altered. No mention of GPHA/ government/MPS re-negotiation of parts of the 2015 contract

Is it certain that nick tc scan will not remain in post?

GPHA are 30% SH in MPS so it is odd that they are instigating protests and presidential legal review
However they are the government representative and there is concern re the 800m usd tax waiver to MPs which contributed to the 1.6bn project cost
Also job losses in non MPS GPHA business, plus proposed port tariff hikes of 10.9%, in addition to previous 9.1%

I agree this will blow over. However the legal review will take up to 42 days (fits with Fowler’s time scale- coincidence?)

https://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2019/june-26th/gpha-management-behind-serialised-protests-against-mps-deal.php

Yes it’s a good article

This one contains the letter sent by the Ghanaian employers association lobbying the government to retain existing scanning services
https://www.modernghana.com/news/939544/tema-port-expansion-project-more-businesses-likely-to-colla.html

Wsg should be OK if they demonstrate no job losses

Sorry- 3rd party contracts. The issues of concern are all resolvable and as you say may not affect wsg as MPS will know thos

MPS have said the proposed 10.9% tariff hike is essential for cash flow and their ability to pay 3rd partition contracts

Akufo-Addo to help resolve disagreements re original 2015 concession agreement, job losses, and port tariff hikes within 6 weeks
https://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Akufo-Addo-will-soon-speak-on-MPS-project-controversies-Minister-756053

May or may not affect wsg

DHC you are a powerful ramper- unprincipled, robotic and immune to criticism

I am concerned that I have annoyed Jimzi who I respect. I will try and be more positive

I agree contradicting the naysayers- especially when they are wrong is essential to discussion- as long as it is done politely and with evidence

There are not many naysayers on here- only one consistent one- he is catatonically depressed at present- cheer up

Thanks Jimzi- the aim was to create discussion
I still do not agree with the Saudi ramps

WSG and scanport have no experience in port service management and they have to hit the ground running.
They are setting up without a contract
There is existing security services at the other two terminals and MPS have large institutional shareholders to answer to
It should be interesting

I agree Ghana could be a game changer and welcome the greater disclosure
However I still think there is some room for cock up
Neither scanport or wsg have experience in dealing with port managed services- I am v happy to be proved wrong however
Regarding Hazar- they are a v small company- 10 employees- impressive client list for tasks such as lab services- not sure why so positive especially given that fowler said no ramps with irrelevant MOUs- now using joint ventures

The contract negotiations will take 30-40 days
The port will test the go- no go boat to confirm possible opening on 28/6
However lots more testing with this 250k boat to follow- equivalent to the orat
No commercial operations for a few months
Wsg and scanport are in pole position though
Recruitment should be easy- they need to re deploy 3000 casual workers fro the internal depots- familiar with the port but need training

The primary question here is not whether the Tema port expansion is a big project or how much per TEU or whether Saudi Arabia is a rich country. All of these are relevant but are similar to the questions asked in the one month run up to Oman/ Iran/Qatar.

It is whether wsg will succeed in converting the LOI
On the positive side there is a short timescale with exclusivity
What could go wrong?

A lot depends on converting this Ghana contract

In the meantime the impressive mr fowler knows how to get the crowd jizzed up- is a JV better than a mou- not really

If there is a placing 28/06 would be a good day