Shippers Information Centre Improves Operations
The Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) has established the Shipper Information Centres in a bid to provide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to shippers and enable them to interact with their trade partners.
The centre, which is currently located at the Takoradi office of GSA, provides shippers with internet accessibility and business/communication facilities to enhance their competitiveness in the international market.
GSA would soon open similar centres at its various officers across the country.
Emmanuel Martey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSA disclosed this when he addressed members of the Kantamanto Trade Association at an open forum organized by GSA in collaboration with Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).
He added that the Authority has also established Shipper Complaints and Support Units at Elubo and Aflao to assist shippers to clear their goods.
It formed part of the Authority's efforts to engage importers, exporters and traders in their trading localities to learn of the problems confronting them in their day-to-day business transactions, with the view to assisting them find solutions to these operational bottlenecks.
The ultimate aim of the forum was to help facilitate fast clearance of goods at the ports.
The forum was attended by representatives of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Destination Inspection Companies, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, and other stakeholders in the import and export industry.
Most traders at the forum, who were given the platform to express their views, complained about the delays and frustrations at the ports.
Daniel Aggrey, Second Vice President of GUTA also expressed worry about cost of doing business in the ports, which according to him, was increasingly becoming high.
He pointed out some of the challenges as “high taxes, levies, cumbersome processes and procedures of clearing cargo, unnecessary charges and theft among others which do not augur well for the growth and development of the private sector, which is touted as the engine of growth of the country.”
He said if port officials do not desist from such acts, the country would loose a lot in terms of business image and revenue generation.