Business Times Africa Magazine 2017 /vol 9/ No2 BT2Edition2017_web | Page 41

BOLSTERING GROWTH AND WEALTH IN A BLUE ECONOMY
part of efforts to improve security
within the port community.
The electronic port management
system will protect the ports’
stakeholders from the issues of
corruption, extortion, petty thievery
as well as other unethical practices
that dent the image of the port
industry in the public eye.
Sister
industry
associations
including the Ghana Shippers’
Authority (GSA), the Ship-owners
and Agents Association of Ghana
(SOAAG), the Importers and
Exporters Association of Ghana,
and the Ghana Institute of Freight
Forwarders (GIFF) are all actively
engaged in one form of activity that
seeks to shore up the economic gains
from sector.
The strong cooperation that exists
among the various private sector
stakeholders
is
commendable
as it will go a long way to bolster
productivity and business growth.
This is the kind of bond that the
maritime guru and board chair of
Meridian Port Services (MPS), Alhaji
Asuma Banda, has tasked the various
stakeholders in the maritime industry
to hold on as they collectively work
towards seamless and conducive
transactions at the country’s ports.
He said at a recently held New Year
cocktail event organised by the Ship-
owners and Agents Association of
Ghana (SOAAG) of which he is the
president: “My advice to shipping
lines, clearing agents and other
industry actors is for them to work
as a team; there should be no need
for competition between the port
operators and shipping lines.
Every one engaged in the port
business must be part of that team,
and there should be no segregations
in the sector. By doing the right thing,
we can position the port industry for
higher gains to drive national and
socio-economic growth.”
It is all bright for the blue economy
and it is without a doubt that the
change of government to the ruling
New Patriotic Party (NPP) has come
with its own breeze of hope and
growth for the dominant sea trade
sector.
The promise of tax cuts and the
abolishment of industry-specific
duties such as the Special Import
Levy, import duties on raw materials
and machinery and spare parts have
kept industry actors upbeat about the
industry.
The icing on the cake that has got
the various maritime stakeholders
highly optimistic is the creation of
a dedicated ministry for railway
development headed by the astute
lawyer and former Attorney-General,
Joe Ghartey.
The fact remains that the economic
potency of a robust rail transport
system are enormous; from saving
cost to shippers and opening up
the rural economy to enticing more
business through our ports.
Significantly also, the cargo
haulage business has entered into
the multimodal era, where you do
not need only one mode of transport
handling the carriage of goods while
rail is cheaper and could haul large
volumes at a go.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of
the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA),
Sylvia Asana Owu, told the B&FT in
an interview: “An efficient rail system
will open up our corridors for effective
transit business; this will attract other
countries to do business through our
ports and that will create jobs for the
people and open up the economy.
When transit cargo is moved
through our ports, people will be
engaged to work on the cargo,
truckers will be involved to cart the
goods along the transit routes; they
will buy fuel and sleep in hotels.
All these activities will generate
incomes to the service providers and
open up the economy as money will
come into the system.”
Figures from the Ghana Shippers’
Authority (GSA) indicate that total
transit and transshipment figures,
as at the third quarter of 2016, stood
at 772,744 metric tonnes, which is a
12.23 percent rise over the 2015 figure
of 688,565 metric tonnes, within the
same period.
These figures give a fair reflection
of renewed confidence in Ghana’s
economy
by
its
landlocked
neighbours of Burkina Faso, Mali and
Niger, coupled with improved security
along trade corridors, has steadily
pushed up transit trade figures over
the last few years after a long period
of decline.
Currently, the haulage sector
provides an average of 97,000 trucking
jobs -- drivers and mates -- per year
for the northbound transportation of
transit cargo destined for the Sahelian
countries, generating a yearly income
in the range of US$81 million for local
haulage companies.
With this huge prospect, it is
less surprising that importers and
exporters are exceedingly jubilant
over government’s decision to rebuild
and operate a robust rail transport
network that will link the southern
and northern parts of the country.
Captains of the industry opine that
an efficient rail transport network,
similar to that of Cote d’Ivoire and
Benin, will reduce cost for businesses
in the landlocked countries of Niger,
Burkina Faso and Mali.
To her, a properly linked rail
network to the Boankra Inland Port
will boost trade on our corridor,
making rail a laudable initiative that
government is right to focus on.
The GSA deputy boss added: “We
have always believed that the Boankra
Inland Port is a very good project that
is why we have not given up on it;
and it is equally significant that the
Transport Ministry has not given up
on it.”
2017 | Business Times Africa 39