Paperless port officially takes off

Effective Today, September 4, 2017, all agencies at the country’s ports will use the paperless clearing process after a month of piloting.

The move to start a paperless regime at the ports follows a directive from the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in May this year.

According to the Vice President, this will curb corruption and reduce the turnaround time for businesses.

Despite recording impressive cargo traffic volumes, operations at Ghana’s ports have been described by importers and exporters as a cumbersome process due to scarce automation processes.

Middlemen, popularly called ‘goro boys’, have also been blamed for many instances of underhand dealings at the ports.

According to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), total cargo traffic volumes at the Port of Tema in 2016 rose by 1,269,288 tonnes, a 10.5% increase over the previous year’s performance.

The import sector, according to GHAPOHA, was particularly successful with local and transit imports increasing by 8.4% and 19.6% respectively over its 2015 performance.

Even though there was a decline in Transit exports overall Transit traffic increased by 19.4% last year.