…GSA, EPA, others to blame
By Wisdom JONNY-NUEKPE
The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), have expressed worry over the escalating cost of demurrage paid by importers and businesses on weekly basis to shipping lines. Data from the Institute, indicates that every week, importers pay an estimated GH¢30 million in demurrage to shipping lines at the ports.
GIFF’s president, Stephen Adjokatcher, who confirmed this to the B&FT, blamed the situation on delays by regulatory authorities in processing documents for expedited clearing. He said documents could linger at the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), and others for weeks, whilst clients suffer demurrage and port rent charges.
“We are appealing to regulatory institutions to wake up and be proactive during clearing processes. We observed that when documents get to regulators for processing to enhance clearance at the ports, processing is delayed for days, thereby attracting huge demurrage. A process which should not take more than 24 hours to do,” Mr Adjokatcher noted.
The Institute indicates that commencement of the government’s 24-hour economy policy is a surest way to prevent and curb demurrage, which has been major bane for businesses and importers.
The Institute said though movement of containers at the port from one terminal to another has seen some improvement recently – a great effort by the GPHA, it maintains that delivery of vessels and containers and their s arrival to the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) for clearance, still takes significant time within the seven-day free period for demurrage.
Appeal to Shippers’ Authority
With this phenomenon, Mr Adjokatcher appealed to the Ghana Shippers’ Authority to intervene in amending the number of days for demurrage. “The seven days can be looked at in consultation with stakeholders so that the industry and importers may have some respite,” he said. Freight forwarders are intermediaries between clients, shippers and customs. The Institute collects revenue on behalf of government and is a major stakeholder in government tax policies and decisions at the ports.
