Freight organisations in Ghana have been at loggerheads this week over government’s intention to replace the current single window paperless customs system at the country’s ports with a new system called UNIPASS.
Speaking at a press conference recently, president of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Kwabena Ofosu-Appiah, labelled the decision “unwise”, pointing out that the current system was a work in progress and that the processing fees under UNIPASS would be higher.
“Challenges identified in the current system are being fixed and therefore any attempt to replace the system will be similar to reinventing the wheel,” he said. “These are the bare facts and as such, government would have to choose between the UNIPASS fee of 0.75 and the existing fee of 0.54 [Ghanaian cedis].”
However, Business Ghana reported that President of the Ghanaian Chamber of Freight and Trade, Dennis Amfo-Sefah, had declared his full support for the replacement of the current system.
“The UNIPASS deal will reduce port charges and make it more profitable for us freight forwarders to operate at the ports,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ghana Chamber of Freight Forwarders CEO, Albert Fiatui, told FTW Online he could not comment on the new system because not many details had been ironed out between government and stakeholders in the industry. He said, however, that the organisation did not outright oppose government’s plan.
“We were made to believe that a lot of the challenges faced in clearing goods at the port would be addressed by the current single window system but this has not really been the case,” said Fiatui. “There are still issues with clearance and charges,” he said. “For instance, if a consignment should take only two days to clear customs, it instead takes around three to four which of course adds on extra costs.”
He said that there was no real difference between the two systems, except in terms of the service providers – the current system being provided by West Blue and GC-Net. The UNIPASS system would make sure that the current single window system was more effective, he added.
Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, said that government was looking to phase out the current system – implemented in August 2017 – in order to enhance the ease of doing business at the country’s ports.
