The decision by Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to halt the increment of fees and charges at the various ports has seen members of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders express joy and have therefore welcome the decision.
During the month of December last year, the Standards Authority announced that it has plans to increase the charge of clearing goods at the ports and added that it was likely to place a 20% increment by the beginning of January 2021.
According to the GSA the expected increment formed part of the annual review of fees and charges at the ports so as to ensure clients of the various ports enjoyed better services.
The situation led to a meeting which was held on January 14, 2021 with stakeholders in the imports and exports sector. At the end of the meeting a decision was arrived at, which is to shelve the idea of increasing the fees and this was mainly due to complaints from the affected parties.
Johnny Mantey, the Vice Chairman of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders speaking to the media expressed joy and explained “GSA is an institution that needs to keep itself going. Every product has to be certified by GSA. So they need funds and resources to be able to do that.
However, we also agree that they also make money from testing. Of course, they were earning some kind of money from the ports in terms of the percentage that was given to the inspection companies. Now, they are not earning that anymore,” he remarked.
“However, if you look at the tariff itself; we looked at issues like cement, tobacco, lubricants and electricals. Tobacco, for instance, has been slashed by half instead of going up. We also believe that with the advent of ICUMS, everybody will be paying which means that they’ll be getting the full benefit of all their charges. This means they’ll be raking some more money on the old tariffs. So those were some of the issues that came up.”
He was quick to state that idea to increase the charges will be relooked at by the end of the first quarter of this year.
He adds that because the traders had also given certain instances of high freight and cost of doing business and all that, they looked at all that and decided they’ll take this off, and then we’ll come back again by the end of March,” he stated.
In a related development, the Institute of Freight Forwarders is looking forward to an increment in port charges by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) in March this year.
This follows an earlier announcement from the Authority, port dues on cargo will cost US$10 per TEU, stevedoring charges will be US$15 per TEU, craneage and terminal handling charges will be US$5 per TEU each.
GIFF meanwhile has explained that it will has said it will examine the new revision of port tariffs before its implementation.
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