The Tamale office of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority has been inaugurated Tuesday March 13,2018 to start the provision of services to shippers operating in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions and to also facilitate trade between the northern and southern parts of the country.
In a welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), Ms Benonita Bismarck, said the establishment of the office in Tamale is an indication of the Authority’s resolve to execute its mandate of fostering and promoting Ghana’s international trade activities across all entry and exit points of the country
“It is for this reason that the Authority established Shipper Committees in all the 10 regions of the country, including the Northern Region, in addition to establishing its presence at the major entry and exit points of Ghana’s international trade – Aflao, Elubo and Paga borders, KIA, and Takoradi port”., she emphasised.
Ms Bismarck said the demands of multi-modal and inter-modal transport come with their peculiar challenges at land borders and transport routes which are different from problems encountered by shippers at the seaports. These, she said, require unique shipping solutions which the Tamale office is prepared to provide with “quick and effective resolution of transport related issues in Ghana’s international trading activities”.
She mentioned the export of yams, soya beans, shea butter, cashew nuts, handicrafts and other products which generate foreign exchange as the contribution of the three northern regions to the growth of Ghana’s economy particularly in the export sector.
The Board Chairperson of the GSA, Mrs Stella Wilson Agyapong, noted that with the increase in transit cargo through the ports of Tema and Takoradi from 1,027,787 tonnes in 2016 to 1,249, 336 in 2017, it was timely that the GSA has established its presence in Tamale to facilitate trade with Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and other landlocked countries.
She said the GSA will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders in the maritime and transport sector to ensure for shippers in Ghana a quick, reliable and safe delivery of import and export cargoes through all modes of transport at an optimum cost.
The Paramount Chief of the Tamale Traditional Area, Gukpe-Naa Alhassan Abdulai, commended the GSA for setting up its office in the metropolis because a lot of agro-based export produce and cross border livestock trading passes through Tamale.
“Being so strategically placed, the northern region and indeed, the three (3) northern regions, have a golden opportunity to open up, especially with the Government’s One (1) District One (1) Factory flagship programme. It is therefore an opportune time for the GSA to establish a presence here in the northern region.”, he said
The Gukpe-Naa appealed to the GSA to partner investors to provide parking lots for trucks in designated areas in the Tamale Metropolis to “ensure appropriate and adequate security for goods passing through the metropolis, as well as rid the metropolis of indiscriminate parking of truckers, along with its attendant social vices and potentials for causing carnage on the roads of the city.”
