Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) and the Meridian Port Services Limited (MPS), operators of Terminal 3 at the Port of Tema and a key driver of Ghana’s shipping and logistics industry, have reaffirmed their commitment to prosecuting His Excellency, President John Mahama’s agenda to reduce the cost of doing business in Ghana with dispatch. The mutual call was made when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSA, Prof. Ransford E. V. Gyampo paid a working visit to the Terminal to engage with Management on how service delivery to shippers would be enhanced to eliminate the hurdles that often inhibit smooth operations and thereby escalate the cost of doing business via the seaports.
Prof. Ransford Gyampo and Mr. Mohamed Samara
MPS, which handles over one (1) million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually, serves as a major hub for trade in West Africa, facilitating the seamless movement of goods. Through their operations, MPS contributes significantly to Ghana’s economic growth by boosting port efficiency and enhancing the country’s trade competitiveness. Prof. Gyampo said “His Excellency President John Mahama is very passionate about his call for the cost of doing business to be reduced, and we, as Ghana Shippers’ Authority consider ourselves as key duty bearers in this noble cause. We are, consequently, poised to drive this agenda with the diligence and dexterity required, given its multiple benefits to stakeholders of the industry as well as the entirety of the Ghanaian population”.
Welcoming the GSA team, the CEO of MPS, Mohamed Samara in the company of some key managers of MPS, applauded the gesture by GSA and underscored the importance of a collaborative approach to managing the shipping and logistics industry if Ghana would benefit from the vast benefits it offers. In his remarks, Mr. Samara said that, MPS had made significant investment into the industry, and has ensured to operate to global standards including that of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), to which Ghana is a signatory.
Comprising companies that operate in a total of ninety (90) countries across the world, MPS has a wealth of international experience, resources including modern equipment, technology and skilled personnel to deliver its mandate to world class standards. He asserted that, it is in this regard that they make painstaking effort to minimize challenges, particularly those within their control, to the barest minimum to ensure that their end of the shipping and logistics value-chain eliminates delay and invariably, the cost of doing business.
Mr. Samara cited the need for other service providers within the terminal operations end of the value-chain of the industry to take swift and pragmatic steps to eliminate the multiplicity of some of their activities, including handling which adds to charges the shipper pays. He added, “Timely evacuation of containers for example is pivotal to eliminating delay in the service chain, and therefore high cost. Therefore, the availability of trucks in adequate quantities is a fundamental resource that must be on hand consistently, and those responsible for that must treat it as utmost priority”. He cautioned that, in tackling the need for adequate trucks, the quality and service worthiness of the trucks ought to be kept in focus to avert the mechanical breakdown some of them suffer, and the resultant delay and congestion they cause in the terminal.
Assurances of Adequate Resources to Avert Delay
In response to Prof. Gyampo’s concern about the reported frequent breakdown of the scanner at the terminal that often leads to prolonged delay and added cost, Mr. Samara assured Prof. Gyampo that, MPS has excess scanner capacity (about 50% of the 3 available and operational is being utilized), hence the assertion could not be accurate. He attributed those instances of a breakdown in service to breakdown of trucks, sometimes within the scanner, which necessitates an interruption in scanner services. He reiterated the commitment of MPS to providing world class experience for their clients, and assured Prof. Gyampo of the company’s mindedness to their obligations towards Ghana as their host country.
Prof. Gyampo thanked Mr. Samara and his team for the insightful and engaging interaction, and reminded them of the shared obligations of GSA and MPS to drive a thriving shipping and logistics industry. He said that, the industry remains one of the most potent avenues for balancing the trade receipts of Ghana’s economy, and so all stakeholders must conduct their affairs in ways that enable this beneficial outcome.
Frank Brown, Esq., the Head of Legal at MPS with Sylvia Asana Dauda Owu, Director of Operations at GSA
Conclusion
Frequent and prolonged delays in shipping operations at the seaports in particular, have become topical in recent times, with MPS’ Terminal 3 being cited by stakeholders of the shipping and logistics industry as a regular culprit. GSA has had cause to engage service providers at the ports on this lingering concern on many occasions, when shippers incurred undue heightened costs, in addition to the consequences of the opportunity cost of the time lost due to delays in the provision of service. With key stakeholders like the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs) having undertaken a Time Study to scientifically quantify the loss, in value terms, of delays at the Tema port, its impact on the socio-economic fortunes of the country as well as the wellbeing of the trading community, every step to help curb, if not eliminate the challenge is desirable and ought to be supported.
