Shipping lines have threatened to increase charges for their services due to the increase in some administrative charges. The businesses say this \u00a0has become necessary because of the potential rise in their operational cost.<\/p>\n
The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), has served notice it will from the beginning of October 2017, increase the safety charge for shippers from 15 to 50 cents.<\/p>\n
The Authority however told\u00a0Citi Business News<\/strong>\u00a0it will not allow shipping lines to increase charges for their services due to the increase.<\/p>\n But the shippers maintain they will pass on the increases to their clients.<\/p>\n The safety charge is backed by the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA)\u2019s regulations passed in 2012, which allows the imposition of maritime safety fees and charges on installations, ships, pipelines, cables and other assets employed in the maritime domain.<\/p>\n The shippers subsequently impressed on the previous administration to whittle down the 1 dollar charge by over 800 percent to 15 cents per vessel, a proposal\u00a0the new Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Mr. Kwame Owusu, describes as illegal as it was not backed by law.<\/p>\n In his view, the shipping lines were cheating the government over the five year period. This he says must be discontinued.<\/p>\n \u201cFifteen cents out of one dollar, that\u2019s illegal. Illegitimately, they have operated on that and fed on that, cheating the Ghana government over a period. They have been operating on this price since 2012, so I have not increased it since I came.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, neighboring countries such as Nigeria charge as much as 3 dollars per vessel in safety charges. Even in such cases, the shipping lines are required to pay within 24 hours of arrival at the ports.<\/p>\n The shipping lines have cautioned\u00a0they will pass on the rise in the charge to their clients, which will result in increases in prices of goods in the near future.<\/p>\n Though he could not readily disclose the margin of increases, the Vice President of the Ship Owners and Agents Association, Ayana Adam Imoro, maintains that they will adjust their prices upwards to reflect the rise in fees.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be able to give you a specific figure because all the players are independent companies and everything of theirs is different so I\u2019m sure everybody is going to look at the cost and come up with something. So I will be wrong in giving you a blanket figure. Now none of them has also given me any figure. I am very confident of the price hikes because whichever way the shipping line would have to recoup their cost, either some or all,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n But the Director General of the Ghana Maritime Authority, insists his outfit will not allow such decision to be implemented.<\/p>\n \u201cThey cannot threaten\u2026one dollar of the Gross Tonnage of the vessel; not the merchandise. Every commercial vessel that comes into the ports of Ghana, as the law says will pay this charge irrespective of whether or not it is carrying luggage.\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Pius Amihere Eduku\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shipping lines have threatened to increase charges for their services due to the increase in some administrative charges. The businesses say this \u00a0has become necessary because of the potential rise in their operational cost. The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), has served notice it will from the beginning of October 2017, increase the safety charge for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,171,10,11,1166],"tags":[3,11375,11376],"yoast_head":"\n