GSA Cuts Shipping Container Charges from $165 to $65 per TEU
The Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) has reduced container administrative charges imposed by shipping lines from an average of US$165 to US$65, following concerns over the high cost of doing business at the country’s ports.
The reduction follows the authority’s decision to exercise its regulatory powers under Act 1122, which gives the GSA the mandate to approve or reject charges proposed by shipping lines.
“Across the Africa region, on average, shipping lines are charging $45 to $50 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) as container administrative charges.
But when it comes to Ghana, it’s $165,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GSA, Professor Ransford Gyampo, said when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport visited the authority as part of its oversight activities yesterday.
He said the authority initially decided to cancel the charge altogether after finding out that the original justification for the fee no longer applied, since port operators now had the equipment required to handle cargo.
Prof. Gyampo explained that the charge was introduced when shipping lines lacked cranes, forklifts and other equipment for moving cargo from vessels to ports.
He recalled that the shipping lines opposed the proposed cancellation, arguing that revenue from the charge supported the employment of some Ghanaians.
According to him, the authority, therefore, opted to reduce the charge substantially rather than abolish it, initially setting it at US$55 per TEU.
The decision, he said, later became the subject of a petition by a group calling itself the Consent Shipping Line Workers Association, which was copied to President John Dramani Mahama.
Prof. Gyampo said the President subsequently referred the matter to the Minister of Transport for intervention, leading to discussions between the authority and the shipping lines.
He said the minister proposed an interim charge of US$65 per TEU, representing a reduction of US$100 from the previous US$165, and the authority agreed.
He said the dispute later went before the courts, where the shipping lines sought an injunction to stop the authority from enforcing the charge.
Prof. Gyampo said the court, however, declined to grant the injunction, allowing the GSA to continue exercising its regulatory mandate while the substantive case was still pending.
“We wrote to them that they should comply.
They wrote to appeal, saying that they want the substantive matter to be heard.
We said no, and we slapped all penalties we are supposed to slap on them as our law mandates,” he said.
He said the authority was preparing to go back to court to enforce the penalties, but the courts went on vacation.
Prof. Gyampo disclosed that the shipping lines subsequently approached the authority through their lawyers to seek an out-of-court settlement.
“Yesterday, they met, and then they said they agreed that they will pay the $65, which is around 720 Ghana cedis,” he said.
He said the shipping lines had also requested that the authority approve additional charges whenever they incurred losses and sought to pass them on to shippers.
Prof. Gyampo said the GSA would consider such requests based on evidence rather than automatically approve them.
Oversight Responsibility
The Chairman of the Committee and Member of Parliament (MP) for Wassa East, Isaac Adjei Mensah, said issues requiring further parliamentary attention would be followed up through the appropriate channels to ensure that identified challenges were addressed.
He said the committee’s oversight responsibility extended beyond visits to institutions to include following up on issues identified during engagements and ensuring that relevant processes were properly implemented.
Source: Graphic
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