Stakeholders Move to Cut Down the High Cost of Doing Business at Ghana’s Ports

Key agencies in Ghana’s shipping and logistics value chain have pledged to tackle the cluster of problems that are driving up the cost of doing business at the country’s ports, following a stakeholder forum convened by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) in Accra.

The meeting, held at Ghana Shippers’ House in Accra on Thursday, June 25, 2026, brought together government agencies and private operators whose actions and inactions shape the efficiency of the ports.

The meeting was called to find solutions to the myriad of challenges that shippers had raised during a series of earlier sessions held with importers and exporters as part of the GSA’s second quarter activities.

The issues, drawn from meetings with shippers grouped by import and export value into Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories, as well as with trade associations, included port congestion, delays arising from multiple inspections and regulatory processes, bureaucratic tendencies, documentation fraud, corruption and informal charges.

GSA noted that these factors add up to a high cost of doing business at Ghana’s ports.

Officials from the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), among others, were on hand to address the concerns to enhance trade facilitation.

As part of efforts to mitigate the effect of congestion and its attendant delays on shippers, the GPHA announced that it would waive rent charges on affected cargo.

This was made known by the Deputy Marketing Manager, Mrs Abena Serwaa Opoku-Fosu, who said that the GPHA was continuing with interventions to modernise the Ports of Tema and Takoradi to ease the movement of containers.

On security along the clearance and haulage chain, the National Security Coordinator at the Tema Port, Major Adams Suleman, assured the stakeholders that goods would have safe passage and personnel would carry out their duties diligently.

The assurance was welcomed by stakeholders, who expressed hope that it would boost the confidence of shippers in the safety of their cargo moving through Ghana’s ports.

A representative of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Kofi Baidoo, also assured the stakeholders that all genuine appeals arising from discrepancies in the generation of duty from the Republican AI Duty System would be resolved.

He encouraged shippers with such complaints to formally lodge them for redress.

All the agencies who attended the meeting reaffirmed their commitment to the automation of port processes, and to giving swift attention to allegations of corruption at the port once they are formally brought to the notice of authorities.

It was noted that the transition to electronic transactions on the ICUMS platform was designed to reduce face-to-face interaction, and thereby reduce the discretionary interventions that breed unofficial payments.

Stakeholders were encouraged to report officials who demand informal charges through the appropriate channels.

Head of the Shipper Services and Trade Facilitation Department, Mrs Monica Josiah, noted that GSA, as the advocate for shippers and shipping service providers, would continue to collate complaints of stakeholders, and more importantly, follow up with the responsible agencies to ensure that the assurances given at the forum translate into real improvements at the ports.

Reducing the cost of doing business at the ports is central to Ghana’s competitiveness as a trade and transit hub, particularly as the country positions itself to attract more cargo from its land-linked neighbours.

The stakeholders agreed to maintain the dialogue and track progress on the commitments made at the quarterly meetings.

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