By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, June 22, GNA – Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, says the Port of Takoradi needed to become autonomous to drive more efficient and effective Service delivery to players in the maritime sector value chain.
He said making the Port autonomous could help the Management to keenly project and charge competitive prices with the potential to grow freight, increase out put and general profitability of the port.
The Western Regional Minister said this at the opening of the Maritime Stakeholders Forum on Reducing the Cost of Doing Business at the Port of Takoradi.
He charged participants to develop implementable interventions and suggestions that could inform the government on the processes as well as charge reviews.
The Minister said, “I remember the Council of State requesting for a Position Paper on the Port and other matters on our maritime space here and I trust that you put on paper great ideas for deliberations for necessary actions.”
He described the continual complaints by stakeholders doing business in the Port of Takoradi as disturbing and requested urgent steps to redeem the image of the Port.
Mr. Peter Amoo-Bediako, the Director of the Takoradi Port, noted how pragmatic efforts were being made to improve upon the value chain.
He said cooperation of all industry players from the Port,customs, GRA, among others was critical to avert some untoward costs which were matter of concern to most businesses.
“Good synergies in the value chain since once output is another’s input,” he said.
He attributed some costs incurred to the lack of proper planning on the part of the shippers, resulting in rent charges and demaurage, which had contributed significantly to the high cost for businesses.
The Director of Port said, ” Don’t plan to pay demaurage and rent charges but plan efficiently to avert any extra cost.”
He said the Port was working to improve service delivery with the construction of the bulk jetty and the Oil and Gas hub among other major infrastructure.
Mrs. Agnes Asamoah -Duku, the Western Regional Director for the Shippers Authority, said government’s several initiatives had not yielded the desired impact.
She said the situation had been aggravated by the COVID pandemic with shipping lines yet to recover from the pre-pandemic levels.
The Shippers Authority Director said the stakeholders forum was, therefore, crucial to address the challenges faced by importers, exporters, shipping lines, freight forwarders, transporters and all players in the Port operations.
“I believe that this is the opportune time for stakeholders of the port community to have dispassionate discussions about the cost of doing business at the Port of Takoradi”.
Mrs. Asamoah-Duku said the forum hoped to deliberate, exchange ideas, share experiences and come up with recommendations to help bring about cost effective, improved service delivery and efficiency at the Port of Takoradi.
Some stakeholders complained about delays at the port and associated cost, issues on warehousing, charging of tarrifs in dollars, the payment of disinfestation by shippers, network issues with ICUMS and monitoring of machine rates.
Others called for special incentives for transit shippers.
Participants complained about movement of cargo to the port, “now cargo has to go to Tacotel for a cost, GPHA also picks it for another cost, let’s go back to the direct approach practiced some years back to reduce cost.”
Some transporters complained about frequent arrest on the road even after their cargoes had been scanned at the Port.
A lecturer from the Takoradi Technical University , Mr. Kofi Asante, , called for proper management of the supply chain within the maritime sector, for visibility and picking up early signs for redress.
He explained that the university offered Programmes to improve the general knowledge of players in the industry for more enlightenment to enhance ways of doing business.
GNA