Hon. John Adu Jack, the National Treasurer of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders and the member of Parliament-elect for Dormaa Central, has spotlighted the freight forwarding predicament at the port.

Speaking to the media, he explained that freight forwarders act on behalf of importers and businessmen who bring goods into the country through various entry points, with a particular focus on the port.

Addressing cost concerns, he noted that to minimize unfavorable charges, swift action is necessary to reduce payments for the importing public, who are the final consumers of these goods.

He stressed that the timely clearance of goods is vital to avoiding demurrage and other extra fees that push up the already high cost of clearing goods at the port. He also brought up the major problem of holdups in moving containers at the port.

He said, when containers arrive at Meridian Port Services (MPS), they need to be quickly transferred or moved to the appropriate terminals for clearance. However, delays in moving containers from MPS to the terminals often occur, leading to unnecessary charges that are avoidable and negatively impact the clearing process.

John Adu Jack stated that these holdups have attracted criticism from organizations such as the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), which accuse freight forwarders of not working efficiently.
He made it clear that these delays are not the fault of the freight forwarders, and that they cannot clear any of their cargo until it has been moved from the MPS.

He also pointed out frequent system failures at the port which also affects their operations. When the system is down, we are forced to wait until it is restored, and that waiting disrupts our workflow and this is beyond our control, he said.

John Adu Jack added that the shipping lines are increasingly taking on the role of freight forwarders at the port. This causes clients to bypass us and deal directly with the shipping lines, which is a significant challenge facing our industry he added.

Sompaonline,com/Nana Yaw Boamah