'Govt moves to confiscate, auction containers left at Ghana’s ports for over six months' – Transport Minister

Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe has directed the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to compile a list of containers that have remained at the ports for extended periods for possible confiscation and auction.

He said containers that have stayed at the port for more than six months would be targeted as part of government’s efforts to clear congestion.

“It is for us as a government to ensure that containers that are overstayed in the port are evacuated,” Nikpe said in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View.

He said GPHA had been instructed to identify the containers and hand the list to the Ghana Revenue Authority, which has the responsibility to confiscate them.

“We had involved the Ghana Revenue Authority to confiscate such containers and then get them gazetted and auctioned to the people in a way to decongest the port,” he said.

Nikpe also said government had asked shipping lines to remove containers belonging to them that had remained at the port for more than six months.

According to him, the shipping lines are now making arrangements to bring in more vessels to take away their empty containers.

“The shipping lines are also making calls to bring in more ships to help them take their empty containers because they wouldn’t want to sit down and have them confiscated,” he said.

He said the removal of the overstayed containers would help free up space and ease pressure on the port.