The Ghana Shippers Authority has organised its 6th Maritime Seminar for Journalists at the Ghana Shippers House in Accra on Tuesday 4th September 2018.

 

The Honourable Deputy Minister for Transport  Daniel Nii Kwatei Titus-Glover called on stakeholders in the shipping industry to mobilse revenue to enhance Ghana's development efforts.  He  urged the fixing of tracking devices to avoid diversion of containers and non-payment of duties.

 

Ms Benonita Bismarck, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority applauded the GJA for their support saying they will continue to work to strengthen their relationship with the media. She also revealed the launch of the "ShippersApp".

 

The seminar had a four part presentation from well experienced resource persons on different topics relating to the maritime industry. Mr Simon Kwesi Kumah, Assistant Revenue Officer, Ghana Revenue Authority Customs Divisions gave  a presentation on the Implementation of Paperless Transaction in Ghana: An impact Assessment on Cargo Clearance at the ports.

 

Participants looked at the importance of the paperless transaction which includes reduction in cost and time of doing business as well as making the Ghanaian ports more effective and attractive.

 

Participants also looked at the challenges confronting the paperless system at the port such as the disproportionate ratio of custom officers to inspection agencies which he said resulted in slowdown of clearance flow as well as communication gap between the declarants and the inspection teams, quality

computer tablets and issues with network connectivity.He added that not enough sensitization was done resulting in a lot of issues concerning the project.

 

Mr Kumah said recommendations regarding these challenges include examination of items which are not in commercial quantities especially household consumables to be examined by the Customs Chemists  and released if satisfied, to avoid delay and costs to importers.

 

There is also the  need to augment numerical strength of the agencies to compliment that of customs as well as consideration of the duration of unstuffing containers  during scheduling to avoid the time lag before the inspection team conducts examinations.

 

Mr Emmanuel Arku, Head of Research, Montoring and Evaluation Department of the Ghana Shippers Authority also said in his presentation on “The Effects of Demurrage on the Cost of Doing Business at the Ports” that demurrage is avoidable. He said demurrage is the unnecessary delay of containers at the port beyond seven days.

 

He gave average rates of container demurrage depending on the shipping companies. He said that a study in 2016 showed that about 85 per cent of containers go into demurrage but this figure, however, has dropped to 60 per cent in 2017. Demurrage payments by shippers also dropped in 2013 from 85 million USD to 28 million USD between January to June 2018.

 

He said that demurrage also goes hand in hand with rent which is the space occupied by the container. In 2016, the cost of container rent was 43 million Ghana Cedis and went to 49 million Ghana Cedis in 2017. He pointed out that everyone has role to play in reducing  demurrage which results from processes such as bureaucratic shipping lines' operational procedures, unprofessional conduct of clearing agents, difficulty in locating container terminals and system issues.

 

He also recommended that education be increased to ensure shippers do the right thing, namely: starting the clearance process before the vessel arrives,

securing of licenses and the integration of various service provider system among others.

 

Mrs Esther Gyebi Donkor, General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority also gave a presentation on the topic “Improving Trade Facilitation via Port Expansion and Port Efficiency.”

 

She noted that both port expansion and port efficiency provide the right environment for trade facilitation. She said that the port expansion projects are a well planned process between the GPHA and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2001. She said reviews have been done over the years on traffic growth and the industry, with a focused plan. 

 

Expansion projects are being done at the Meridian Port Services Container Terminal at a cost of USD1.5 million. She said tug boats and security patrol boats have been made available as well as the construction of the road between the port area and the Reefer terminal with similar projects ongoing at the Takoradi Ports.

 

She however noted a drop in transhipment which she said has resulted from the absence of a draft as well as space posing a challenge for huge vessels.

 

She said the critical bottle necks affecting the port efficiency include multiplicity of stakeholders working at the port, lack of sensitization on the bigger picture for national growth, draft limitations for handling bigger bulk and dry carriers and land or space constraints at the port.

Mrs Donkor said improvements in efficiency however will lead to reduction in cost of doing business at the port, improvement in customer satisfaction as well as increase in revenue from operations.

 

On the topic of Transit Trade through Ghana's corridor-Implication for the economy, Mr Baffour Ofori-Attah Kena, Senior Officer, Freight and Logistics Department of the Ghana's Shippers Authority addressed the challenges of landlocked countries in relation to maritime trade.

 

He explained that these are countries which do not have access coast line and rely on countries like Ghana. They however face challenges such as remoteness from major markets such as Europe and the Americas, high trade transaction costs, additional border crossing which he said affects goods

leading to damage, infrastructural constraints for landlocked countries and institutional bottlenecks such as bureaucracy.

 

He also gave descriptions of the International Conventions on Transit Trade to particpants and talked about Ghana's transit trade corridors.

 

Mr Ofori-Attah Kena said that transit trade have several benefits for countries such as Ghana and these include economic improvements at port facilities, revenue for institutions such as GPHA, SIC Insurance Company and Ghanaian Truckers, employment generation and co-operation and harmony between countries.

 

He said transit trade however faces challenges such as the imposition of VAT on transit services and USD 200 per truck, activities of transit brokers known as "goro boys" at the borders, increase in the number of police check points, delays at the border crossing, shortage in tracking devices, language barrier and demurrage rebate.

 

He recommended the removal of VAT transit services, streamlining the activities of transit brokers, sensitization of police on reduction of check points, improvements in border crossing times, access to rebate on demurrage,french proficiency training and allowing CFA transactions in banking systems in Ghana.

 

The 6th Seminar was organised to improve the knowledge of journalists in the maritime industry and was on the theme “Contemporary Trends and Development in Ghana Maritime Industry.” It was attended by officials in the maritime industry and the media.

 

The seminar was preceded by an opening ceremony attended by the Deputy Minister for  Transport, Mr Daniel Nii Kwatei Titus-Glover, Ms Benonita Bismarck, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority, the Chairman for the event, Mr Kwabena Ofosu Appiah; the President of the Ghana

Journalists Association, Mr Roland Affail Monney and other resource persons.