GSA CEO meets southern zone shippers to tackle shipping challenges
The CEO of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), Kwesi Baffour Sarpong, has held a stakeholder engagement with top shippers in the Southern zone to discuss challenges and solutions for efficient shipping. The meeting aimed to address costly port delays, demurrage charges, and bureaucratic bottlenecks affecting Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. Sarpong highlighted GSA’s 50-year legacy of championing shippers’ interests and outlined strategic initiatives to improve services, including, classifying shippers into categories for tailored support; establishing zonal committees to tackle regional challenges; implementing a pre-emptive approach to address shipment issues; and enhancing collaboration with stakeholders for a more efficient shipping environment.
Mr. Sarpong underscored the importance of remaining responsive and relevant in the dynamic trade environment. He outlined GSA’s strategic repositioning and realignment, including classifying shippers into Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze categories based on annual shipment values to address unique challenges promptly.
Additionally, zonal shipper and stakeholder committees had been established to tackle specific regional challenges, with Ghana divided into five operational areas: Northern, Middle, Eastern, Western, and Southern zones.
Mrs. Monica Josiah, Head of Operations at the GSA said under the CEO’s leadership, the GSA has restructured importers and exporters into four categories: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, and mapped the country into operational zones for improved service. The over 30 years Regional Shippers Committees have now been reconstituted into Zonal Shipper Committees to enhance service delivery.
Stakeholders raised concerns about port delays, demurrage charges, and inefficient cargo handling, which the CEO acknowledged and assured of GSA’s commitment to addressing them.
The engagement is part of GSA’s efforts to create a more efficient and cost-effective shipping environment, supporting Ghana’s socio-economic development and championing a ‘demurrage-free port’ for the benefit of shippers and the national economy.
