Assessment of warehousing operations in the cocoa industry – the case of Tema port
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Date
2009-08-05
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Abstract
This study aims at contributing to the growing literature on warehousing management in Ghana. Following from years of warehouse management in Cocoa Marketing Company, the warehouses were engulfed with overload of poor warehouse practices. It was against this background that the research was carried out, to assess warehousing operations at the Tema Port as a case study.
The study employed descriptive analysis in assessing warehousing problems of Cocoa Marketing Company. Questionnaire were sent to various stakeholders, who gave their views on various warehousing problems in accordance with how such problems impacted or influence their work. Further evidence showed that there was poor utilization of existing warehouse floor space manned by CMC. Again it was drawn from the findings that not having standardized pallets, short delivery of cocoa, short weight, leakages, inadequate utility service, theft, and lack of labour control were among the problems encountered by Cocoa Marketing Company at the various warehouses.
The study made several recommendations to COCOBOD and for that matter Cocoa Marketing Company. It is recommended that Cocoa Marketing Company should ensure quick evacuation of cocoa to ensure that space was created at these warehouses to accommodate more storage of cocoa. Cocoa Marketing Company should employ bulk storage system in its operation. It was recommended that there should be effective strategy in adopting the FIFO principle, regulating trucks, introduction of weighbridge to speed up offloading process at the warehouses. This study is also the first in helping COCOBOD as well as other Ghanaian business organizations in the cocoa industry to understand the problems warehouses at the Port encountered in their daily operations and how warehousing operations in Ghana as a whole could be improved.
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A thesis submitted to the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Commonwealth Executive MBA Degree.