Hundreds of importers and exporters in the Upper East Region, have been trained by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority about the implementation of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention amendment, which requires all shippers to have their containers or cargo weighed and verified before shipment.
The aim of the amendment is to prevent vessel accidents at sea and safeguard lives and containers from being destroyed during shipment.
At a sensitization workshop organized by the Ghana Shippers Authority in Bolgatanga, Shippers, Exporters and Importers, were schooled on the essence of the container weight verification amendment which takes effect from 1st July, 2016 and its ramification on those who will default.
Head of shipper services department at the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Mrs. Naa Densua Aryeetey, said with effect from July 1, exporters will be required to provide accurate gross mass of a packed container meant for export to the shipping line responsible for shipment as part of their shipping documents.
“So if you have goods to export from Ghana to another country, you would have to supply the weight of the container to the shipping line as part of your shipping document. If you do not add the weight of your container to your shipping document, when the ship is called at port, your container will be left behind.”
When the container doesn’t have the verified weight and is brought to the port, it will be rejected. if it is rejected, the port terminal facility may have to take it out of the port at a cost, but the administration is coming out with modalities to ensure that, these things do not occur and even when they occur, they should not be the fault of the shippers,” Aryeetey stated.
Mrs. Aryeetey added that, although the authority is required to punish shippers who will go contrary to the container weight verification requirement, they are yet to develop appropriate penalties to sanction shippers who default in the provision.
The Upper East Branch Manager of the Authority, Mr. Emmanuel Kwarteng, appealed to stakeholders to embrace and support the amendment to the SOLAS convention, which is aimed at further deepening the efforts of tackling issues of safety of ships, safety of workers, safety of cargo and overall safety at sea.
He urged shippers who have problems with exporting containers in the Upper East Region, to report to the complaints unit of the authority in Paga for redress.
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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana