Just like operators in Nigeria, Ghana has also not suspended demurrage – fees paid for overstayed containers – and rent charges at the port, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus also called COVID-19 in Ghana, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), has said.
According to the GPHA, all operations at the port are going on as usual apart from the measure that has been instituted to reduce the number of people who can enter the port to help in respecting the social distancing protocol.
Meanwhile, Customs Licensed Agents and Freight Forwarders in Nigeria have continued to accuse terminal operators and shipping companies of failing to suspend the same charges in Nigeria despite the fact that ports and banks within the port have remained open for port-related business, BusinessDay check has revealed.
Esther Gyebi–Donkor, general manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs of GPHA, told the B&FT, an online news platform in Ghana, that matters have not reached the extent where restriction will be put on non-essential cargo which will require modalities to suspend the charging of demurrage and rent.
“There shouldn’t be issues of demurrage and rent at this time. There was a business continuity plan that was put in place. For now, we are clearing all kinds of cargo, so those whose documentations are ready to clear goods should go through the permit system with Customs and GPHA and get the goods cleared,” she said.
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According to her, with proper documentation, clients should be given a pass by security agencies at various barriers to getting to the port.
“Once you have our identification cards, the Customs and GPHA permit which shows that you have some duties at the port, you will be given access to pass. The GPHA says, as much as possible, it wants the port to be free and not have issues of congestion, therefore, it has entreated all persons whose goods have arrived at the port and have received documentation, to come to clear them as early as possible to avoid paying demurrages,” Gyebi–Donkor said.
She stated that it is better than goods are cleared from the port in order for the cargo owner to free the port of backlog and himself of any demurrage.
“Come for the goods, if they are food, you can take them to the market and sell as the directive has said; if the goods are not captured under the directives, go and keep them in your warehouse,” she added.
Ggyabi-Donkor assured that all was being done to ensure that a smaller number of people enter the port for operation.
Recall that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had earlier directed terminal operators in Nigeria to suspend the payment of rent charges for 21 days to cushion the effect of the 14-day lockdown in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja, but this directive is yet to take effect.
Terminal operators, on the other hand, have argued that the cost would be a huge burden on their bottom line, adding that there would be no need to waive rent charges as Nigerian ports have remained operational as directed by Federal Government and the NPA despite the lockdown.
