Gov’t insists shipping firms must collect GH¢720 charge before resuming talks

The government has directed shipping companies and their agents to begin collecting the approved GH¢720 Container Administrative Charge before further negotiations on the implementation of the charge can resume.

Minister for Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, said the position followed a court ruling that dismissed an application seeking to prevent the implementation of the GH¢720 charge at Ghana’s ports.

Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 9, Mr Nikpe said lawyers representing the affected companies had approached the government with a request to continue discussions outside court.

“As I'm talking to you, their lawyers have reached out to us that they will want us to continue the conversation out of court, and we are telling them that before we will agree, they will have to be collecting or charging the GH¢720 as we communicated to them before we can sit together with them,” he said.

The GH¢720 represents the regulatory ceiling for the Container Administrative Charge, also known as the local handling charge, applicable to import and export containers measured by Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU).

Mr Nikpe said the government’s decision followed a review of port charges initiated after it became concerned about the high cost of doing business at Ghana’s ports.

He said the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) was subsequently tasked with reviewing the various charges and identifying areas where reductions could be made to provide relief to businesses.

“Some four months ago, I was here with all my agencies in what I call the Ministry of Transport and Agencies retreat. This is where we all take decisions as to what we are going to do in terms of our plan of activities,” he said.

“It was at this meeting we agreed that the cost of doing business at the port was too high and we needed to do something as a ministry and government. So we charged the Shippers Authority to go into all the charges in the port and see which of them we were going to cut or work on to bring some relief to our people.”

According to the Minister, the Container Administrative Charge was initially $165 per container before the GSA review recommended a reduction of $115 to $50, which was equivalent to about GH¢550 at the time.

He said freight forwarders and importers subsequently petitioned the government against the implementation of the reduced charge, citing inadequate education, sensitisation and stakeholder consultation.

Mr Nikpe said the government consequently held about 7 meetings with the affected stakeholders to address their concerns.

He said the stakeholders later raised concerns that implementing the $50 charge could result in job losses among Ghanaian workers.

As a result, he said, the government and the GSA agreed to maintain an interim charge of $65, equivalent to about GH¢720, for one month while further consultations continued.

“These were the Ghanaian workers who petitioned us for us to do something, if not that they were going to be laid off, and we said okay, we wanted to listen to them and as interim, for a period of one month, we were going to listen to all their issues so they should pay $65, which translated to GH¢720,” he said.

Mr Nikpe said the consultations were, however, interrupted after the affected shipping companies and agents went to court to seek an injunction against the implementation of the charge.

He said the court dismissed the injunction application, after which the companies sought a stay of execution.

Meanwhile, industry players have called for action against some shipping lines and their agents allegedly charging above the approved GH¢720 ceiling.

They argue that charges exceeding the regulatory limit are increasing the cost of doing business at Ghana’s ports and creating uncertainty for importers and exporters.

In July 2026, the High Court dismissed an application by the Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana (SOAAG) and several shipping agents seeking to prevent the GSA from enforcing the GH¢720 cap.

The ruling, issued on July 10, 2026, paved the way for the GSA to enforce its May 11, 2026 Regulatory Directive limiting the Container Administrative Charge to GH¢720 per TEU.

Mr Nikpe said the government remained willing to engage the affected companies and continue discussions, but stressed that such negotiations could only resume after the GH¢720 charge was being collected in accordance with the directive.