Respond Promptly To Paperless Request – GPHA

The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has tasked all departments and agencies operating at the ports to respond positively to make the paperless system successful.

The Authority further charged all departmental staff to ensure the smooth takeoff of the paperless system.

General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs at GPHA, Esther Gyebi-Donkor, issued the directive on behalf of the Authority during a sensitisation programme to educate all department staff on the paperless system at the country's ports.

The engagement forms part of the GPHA's preparedness for the smooth takeoff of the paperless system on September 1.

She further advised the staff to be on the lookout for the relevant information to prevent delay and congestion at the ports.

Mrs. Gyebi-Donkor further asked staff to do everything possible to ensure that the paperless system yields positive results.

After the engagement, the team toured the various departments to inform staff of what is expected of them, as well as solicit their inputs.

At the Golden Jubilee Terminal where devanning activities take place, staff were charged to work hard to ensure that the paperless system does not fail.

Before meeting with the port security department to sensitise them on their role in the paperless process, the GPHA Paperless Committee also visited Terminal One where the team was taken through the paperless process.

In a related development, the acting Director-General of GPHA, Paul Asare Ansah, has assured stakeholders operating in the port and maritime industry that the September 1 paperless system at the ports, coupled with the joint inspection by all regulatory agencies, would reduce the cost of doing business at the ports.

Addressing stakeholders made up of shipping lines, terminal operators, Customs, Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Standards Authority, among others as part of the authority's preparedness towards the paperless system, he said the stakeholders must put measures in place to make the port efficient.

On his part, the General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs at GPHA, expressed the readiness of the Authority to start the paperless system.

She added that a piloting of the paperless system will commence for selected organizations and educated the stakeholders on how they can access GPHA services on the Authority's electronic system.

From Vincent Kubi, Tema