The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) has called for a thorough review of the Exemptions Act, 2022 (Act 1083) to curb the obstruction of the essential movement of goods.
Mr. Eddie Akrong, the National President of GIFF, made the call at a news conference and said, “We advocate a thorough review of this legislation to ensure that it serves its intended purpose without obstructing the essential movement of goods, particularly those crucial to government operations.”
Mr. Akrong noted that the Act passed by Parliament had inadvertently created obstacles in the clearance process, affecting not only private enterprises but also hindering the clearance of government cargoes at the ports.
He said GIFF was not against the exemption act but rather was calling for a lot of deliberations on it to ensure smooth clearance of essential goods.
According to him, the data available to them showed that Ghana COCOBOD and the Cocoa Marketing Board, for instance, have, for the last three quarters of 2023, had a total of over 910 TEUs (twenty-equivalent units) on the Uncleared Cargo List (UCL), which he noted was mainly due to exemption issues.
“The sad part is the accrual of demurrage charges to the shipping lines, which is an enormous burden on the government,” he noted.
GIFF stated that it is only the first seven days when the goods arrive in the country that no charge occurs, indicating that, for instance, each day after that cost $100, it meant that the more days the containers stayed at the port uncleared, the more demurrage it accrues.
It indicated that, hitherto, the exemptions were given yearly, but currently they have been done on a transaction basis, coupled with their cumbersome nature, leading to important goods being on the UCL.
Touching on shipping line issues, the GIFF President said that after repeated calls for the harmonisation of shipping line operations and charges to reflect equity and fairness, the association had resolved to invoke the subregional mandate of businesses and allied stakeholders to nib the canker in the bud.
He said that to this end, they held a joint consultative meeting with their counterparts from Togo and Benin, where they resolved to form a collaborative solution to compel the states to act in the interest of equity and fairness.
GIFF said the freight forwarding industry was grappling with the constant changes in policies, such as the ban on oil imports through frontiers, which posed significant challenges to their operations.
They therefore called for a collaborative effort between the government and industry stakeholders as essential in addressing such challenges, adding that the aim of the institute is to create an environment that would not only comply with international standards but also promote the seamless flow of goods while fostering economic growth for Ghana.
