The Advocate for Indigenous Freight Forwarders has raised alarm over persistent frustrations faced by shippers due to recurring network disruptions within the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).

According to the group, the intermittent breakdowns of the ICUMS’s platform are slowing clearance processes at Ghana’s ports and creating undue hardships for freight forwarders and shippers.

They have called on government, through the Ghana Shippers Authority, to intervene by compelling the system’s managers to address the challenges, warning that failure to act may compel them to protest.

Convenor of the group, Godfred Mawuli Tettey, said the disruptions are not only affecting businesses, but also pose significant economic risks to the state.

“The situation is worrying and has serious economic implications. At the very least, government must introduce competition into the port clearance system to prevent the monopoly we are seeing,” he explained.

Tettey further explained that the network disruptions cause delays in the clearance of goods, compelling importers to pay demurrage for containers overstaying at the port.

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This unexpected cost, he noted, undermines government’s efforts in reducing the cost of doing business at the ports, as importers are unable to enjoy the benefits of such interventions.

Some importers who spoke in an interview confirmed that the disruptions have left them counting losses.

“We end up paying huge demurrage charges when goods are delayed. This makes our businesses uncompetitive and prices of goods on the market go up,” an importer lamented.

Meanwhile, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, the Executive Secretary of Importers and Exporters Association, said the managers of the ICUMS have assured him of rectifying the challenge immediately.

Speaking on Accra FM, Awingobit said he spoke with Nick, the CEO of ICUMS, on the persistent system failures of the network “and in his admission, Mr Nick said the technicians are working assiduously to resolve the challenge.”

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