New customs escort fees scare off importers

Importers from Ghana’s land-locked neighbouring countries, who use the ports of Ghana, are complaining about the imposition of a daily rate of 65 dollars as escort fee for goods in transit through Ghana. Customs officials are made to accompany all goods that are on transit through the country to the Customs point of exit, to ensure that they are not discharged within the country. With the introduction of the new fees, an amount of 65 dollars will be paid daily for each escort on the journey between the ports and points of exit.

According to the importers, who are mostly from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, they sometimes spend more than fours days on the road, which means they will be paying more in escort fees to CEPS.

Some Ghanaian clearing agents who handle the cargo for the importers say, the payment of the escort fees in addition to transit fees of 200 dollars per consignment is threatening the continuous patronage of the Ghanaian ports. The payment of the daily escort fees, was introduced this month, following the coming into effect of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service - Management Amendment Act of 2002.

CEPS Public Relations Boss Annie Anipa, says the service has decided not to charge the escort fees per vehicle in order to reduce the cost on the importers. CEPS is also encouraging the importers from the landlocked countries to consider the use of vehicles that can be sealed to avoid the use of escorts.

Most of these importers, who decided to use the Ghana ports instead of the Lome and Abidjan ports, now say clearing goods and transporting them through the ports of Ghana are gradually becoming expensive. Some of them told our correspondents that they are contemplating going back to the Togo and Abidjan ports where a lot of incentives are being introduced to win back importers.