Modify clearance procedures to facilitate gateway project - Salia

Takoradi (Greater Accra) 26 May '99

Mr Edward Salia, Minister for Roads and Transport, on Tuesday said Ghana could become a gateway to West African Shipping, if clearance procedures for ships and cargo are modified and made simple.

Increasing cost to shippers and delays due to cumbersome clearance procedures in the ports reduce the competitive edge of Ghanaian ports over neighbouring ports and render them unattractive to shipping lines.

This was contained in an address read on his behalf at the Silver Jubilee Celebration of the Ghana Shippers Council (GSC) under the theme 'Facing the Challenges of Shipping in the Next Millennium-Facilitating International Trade and Transport", at Takoradi.

Mr Salia said to help check this situation, the International Maritime Traffic Facility Convention in Ghana would be implemented immediately.

He added that the use of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) forms for the clearance of ships and cargo would not pose any risks to the Customs

Exercise Preventive Service (CEPS) but rather integrate the activities of CEPS into a global framework of shipping.

Mr Salia said these measures are important if Ghana was to become the maritime and industrial centre of the sub-region.

He called on providers of transport services to deliver their services in an efficient and safe manner in order to maximise the benefits from the country's transport facilities.

He also disclosed that adequate provision has been made in the Merchant Shipping Act to promote and encourage private ownership and operations of ships for the growing sea-borne trade.

"Relevant legislation is also in place for the establishment of a Maritime Authority to formulate responsive maritime policies, regulate, monitor, co-ordinate and harmonise activities of various sub-sectors for the provision of safe and efficient maritime transport services in the country".

Mr Salia called on the Ghana Shippers Council to pursue relevant reforms to keep the Council in focus in the light of international shipping trends.

Mr Kofi Mbiah, Acting Chief Executive of the GSC, mentioned the refusal of shipping lines and agencies to honour legitimate claims of shippers and the disregard for existing regulations, thereby creating more problems in the clearance of goods from the ports, as some of the constraints facing the GSC.

Mr Dominic Azumah, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, urged the council to reappraise its work and adopt new measures and strategies that would strengthen the Council to properly serve Ghanaian shippers and the entire shipping community in the sub-region.

The Ivorian Ambassador in Ghana, Mr. Amon Tanoe Emmanuel and Mr Konan-Kofi Leon, Special Adviser to the Ivorian Government attended the function.

Representatives of Trident Shipping Limited of Cote d'Ivoire, and Niger and Burkina Faso Shipping Councils were also present.