GHACEM distributors not happy with company's operations

Accra, July 5, GNA- Cement distributors in Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions have expressed dissatisfaction with the operations of the Ghana Cement Company (GHACEM) in the supply of cement, but the company's management has blamed the problem on transporters of the product. The distributors are complaining that GHACEM was unable to supply their demands due to lack of transportation from the factories to the depots.

They accused the management of not being "proactive to the new competition on the market to facilitate the selling of their products". Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra on Saturday, in reaction to complaints by the distributors, Mr Bjarne Th. Schmidt, Managing Director of GHACEM said the company has just signed a contract with the Volta Lake Transport and the Ghana Railways Corporation to mitigate the perennial transport difficulties the company is facing. He noted that GHACEM has contracts with 24 transport companies who cart the product to the various regions but occasional delays due to the diversion of the vehicles to cart cocoa during the peak season was the major setback. He said in spite of the agreement with the transport companies, GHACEM finds it difficult to hold them to it when they did not validate their obligation.

Mr Schmidt said that the company however was considering owning its fleet of vehicles to transport the products to forestall any difficulty. " We were trying to help the local transport industry by relying on them but there seem to be problems." He said the company has also embarked upon new marketing strategies with the establishment of a Sales and Marketing, Transport Departments with an officer to coordinate their operations. Mr Schmidt noted that that since these strategies are new it would take time for it to achieve its objectives. On incentives, he said that there have been several get-togethers to create an avenue for dialogue among distributors. He said the company has an open door policy of which every member of staff has the chance to speak his mind on any issue. Mr George Ahmoah-Dawson, the Marketing Director said that management was feverishly working to rectify any anomaly associated to the company's distribution process and called for calm. He said the establishment of the depots was to make distribution easy but since it was a new strategy, problems arising are being assessed for the necessary rectification.