The Ghana Shippers’ Authority will continue to hold stakeholder engagements to ensure that the gains that will accrue from the paperless port system are consolidated for the benefit of shippers in the country.

Chief Executive Officer of the Authority Ms. Benonita Bismarck speaking in an interview with the New Maritime and Transport Digest on the sidelines of a stakeholder engagement to review the second week of the implementation of the paperless port programme noted “The mandate of the shippers’ authority is to protect the interest of shippers. What we are doing is to provide the platform for all stakeholders, the shippers and of course all the relevant institutions. It is not only about customs, GcNet is there, WestBlue is there and GPHA is there as well as customs so we are not only dealing with customs and the problems don’t only come with customs, it’s the whole gamut of things but what we are doing is, we engage all of them because we hear feedback from our shippers and then we pass it on that this is what we have found out, how do we resolve it and as with any new thing, there are bound to be challenges but that is not to say that we should rest on our oars’’ .

According to her, it is refreshing that the shippers and freight forwarders are beginning to appreciate the workings of the system. Madam Bismarck lauded the efforts of the implementing stakeholders for usually working round the clock to address challenges that are brought to their attention.

‘’When we initially started almost three weeks ago, the bandwidth as we all know was a bit slow but now it’s been upped up, they were using one network service provider and now they have shifted to another because the first one was relatively slower so you know, we are fine-tuning as we go on. These are things that are bound to come, but when they come up, they are brought immediately to the attention of all the relevant stakeholders and then they fine-tune and there have been stakeholder meetings that we have participated in to ensure that whatever we get from our relevant stakeholders, that is the shippers, we pass it on to the institutions’’ she further opined.

Madam Bismarck also noted that the authority has engaged the Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana, SOAAG to impress upon them to offer waivers on demurrage chargers emanating from the challenges encountered in the implementation of the paperless port system.

According her, the meeting yielded positive dividends as the shipping lines agreed to deal with the issues on a case-by-case basis. She intimated further that the Authority was doing everything possible to ensure that all parties are properly served to ensure that the nation develops.

‘’Paperless is here to stay. We are not going to go back. The political will is there and we need to make sure that Ghana is the better for it’’ she concluded. Other stakeholders including representatives of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, GcNet, WestBlue consulting, the Ghana Union of Traders Association, GUTA, the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana as well as shippers and freight forwarders participated in the forum.