BOST rejects fuel shortage claims by tanker drivers

The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), has shot down claims of a shortage of fuel at its depots.

It follows media reports suggesting that some tanker drivers of the company have been rendered jobless for more than a year following the purported lack of fuel.

Recently, it emerged that some tanker drivers had petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to intervene in the operations of BOST over claims of operational difficulties.

But a statement from BOST in setting the records straight, the company said the allegations are “unfounded” and that the company is in “safe hands”.

“We will at this point urge the public to disregard the unfounded allegations on the operations of the company and trust BOST to live up to the bidding of the good people of Ghana. BOST is in a good state and it’s poised to deliver on its mandate to benefit the government and people of Ghana,” excerpts of BOST’s statement read.

BOST further explained that the complaints of the tanker drivers emanate from attempts by the company to maximize its resources by repairing, fully, four of its river barges and two pipelines that have been faulty for about five years.

These include the two pipelines connecting the Tema-Akosombo and Buipe-Bolgatanga depots and all the four river barges on the Volta Lake.

The repair works according to the company have led to a faster, quicker, and efficient movement of volumes of fuel to meet increasing export demand, thereby reducing the dependency on the tanker drivers in transporting the product by road.

With this intervention, BOST said its asset utilization has improved from a paltry 15% to 85% within two years, adding that it is seeking to bring every single asset which has been lying idle over the last couple of years into the operation to maximize value.

“One river barge voyage from Akosombo to Buipe takes a total of about 5,300,000 litres of product. With a maximum capacity of 54,000 litres per truck (tanker or BRV as indicated earlier), one barge trip is the equivalent of (5,300,000/54,000) = 98 trucks. With the barges making close to 10 turns in a month, (98*10) 980 truckloads are saved,” BOST further noted.