Transit trade declines by over 25% as at end of third quarter

Data from the State Insurance Company (SIC) have revealed a 25.7 percent decline in transit trade from the first quarter to third quarter of 2022.

This was made known by the Head of Inter-State Road Transit (ISRT) at SIC, Mr. Anthony Osei Ntiamoah, during the 4th quarter Transit Shipper Committee Meeting of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) held at the Shippers’ House on Tuesday 29th November 2022.

According to the data, the number of declarations for which SIC issued bonds decreased from 8,430 in the first quarter to 8,052 in the second quarter of 2022. The number further decreased to 6,257 in the third quarter. It also revealed that Burkina Faso remains the major destination for transit cargo from Ghana’s ports.

Destination per number of declarations for the first three quarters of 2022

Tonnage per destination for the 3rd quarter of 2022

A total 473,165 metric tonnes of transit cargo passed through the ports of Ghana during the period. The cargo transited was to: Burkina Faso (307,141), Mali (74,377), Cote d’ Ivoire (66,825), Togo (17,260), Niger (6,575), Benin (748) and Liberia (239).

Mr. Osei Ntiamoah said: “For the first quarter we issued a total of 5,084 bonds for Burkina Faso, which has been the preferred destination for cargo trucks from Ghana. In the second quarter we issued 4,791 bonds and 3,771 in the third quarter. So, it is clear that transit trade is actually going down”.

It was also observed that foreign cargo trucks dominated local trucks in terms of their performance, while Tema Harbour remains Ghana’s major port for transit cargo.

Head of the Freight and Logistics Department of the GSA, Mr. Fred Asiedu Dartey, called for intensified stakeholder engagements to address issues leading to the reduction in transit trade in order to drive the sector’s growth.