The Ghana Shippers’ Authority, has organised a day’s workshop for haulage truck drivers in the Western Region to expose them to industry best practices and the need to promote safety on the road.
The workshop centred on Dangerous goods and the rightful placards or signs, defensive driving strategy, security assessment and management of transit incidences along the corridor.
Mrs. Agnes Asamoah, the Branch Manager at Takoradi, in welcoming the participants said the training would ensure that truck drivers went about their duties in utmost security in accordance with demands of international trade best practices.
Ms. Benonita Bismarck, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana’s Shippers’ Authority pointed out that recent engagement with shippers in Burkina Faso and Niger, revealed the stagnation in the volumes of transit traffic.
This she noted could largely be attributed to a few factors, including, the continued application of VAT on transit goods, the seeming lack of transparent handling of transit cargoes, arbitrary application of exchange rates and harassment by uniformed personnel at the numerous check points along the corridor.
These concerns, she said set a clear agenda on what stakeholders must focused on to grow the transit trade.
According to her, recent reports indicated an upsurge of activities of insurgents along some transit corridors in the subregion.
“The heightened security concerns and the risks posed to the transit consignment, the trucks and in particular the lives of the drivers and their assistants, have largely informed the emphasis of this event on security matters along the transit corridors. We have accordingly put together an array of resource persons to address these issues”.
Ms. Bismarck said as it had become the tradition since 2018, to effect quarterly fact-finding missions on the main transit corridors in Ghana to drive continuous improvement and address issues of infractions on Road Traffic Regulations, Police Harassment, malpractices at the Axle Load stations amongst others.
The Authority embarked on a fact-finding mission in March this year and the major findings included 67 Police and MTTD stops, eight Customs checkpoints, five Axle Load stations eight forestry and five Immigration check points” she said.
The CEO noted how the Authority was liaising with relevant agencies to control the situation.
“The Authority will continue to conduct sensitization seminars with all major stakeholders including the Police Service and Customs on the need to make Ghana’s corridor the preferred choice, thus the hub for transit trade in the West African subregion” she added.
Mr. Fred Gassese, the Western Regional Manager of DVLA, said there was the need for stakeholders to come together to improve haulage transport, bearing in mind all best and safety practices.
He encouraged the drivers to take the scheduled time of rest and stops while on the road to avoid crashes.
Meanwhile, safe transport of cargoes with due regard to all road safety measures and protocols was a key requirement for international haulage of goods.
