Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) said a letter of intent to appoint the company as technical partner for a contract to upgrade the container port at Tema in Ghana has been extended.

The managed services and technology-based security solutions provider said the extension will allow more time to finalise terms with Ghanaian partner Scanport and port owner Meridian.

The project at Tema is a US$1.5bn investment to expand its capacity from one million twenty-foot equivalent units a year to more than 3.5mln.

Westminster will manage, operate, maintain and upgrade the container screening services alongside Scanport.

The Scanport-Westminster partnership is already the sole appointed contractor for scanning operations at the new port.

The partnership has established a full scanning operation at the primary scanning stations at the import and export gates as well as secondary screening services at the intensive search area for physical inspections.

The first phase of the port expansion was opened for business on June 28. Westminster said the first two trial vessels have been successfully processed as operations, including screening, are tested to iron out any teething issues.

The company added that scanning services have performed well and are now operational with around 2,000 containers screened by the firm to date.

“Following successful operations across the port, it is expected that activity will continue to ramp up during the coming months as more and more vessels move to the new port,” Westminster said.