• GUTA has accused shipping lines operating in Ghana of charging traders unauthorized fees
• They have called on government to control the activities of these multinationals
• President of the Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, made these comments on GhanaWeb’s BizTech programme
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has bemoaned the rate at which the amount of money paid to a carrier company for the transportation of goods from the point of origin to an agreed location has shot up.
Aside from this concern raised, the President of the Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, disclosed that these shipping lines charge importers illegal fees after paying huge sums of money for freight.
He said the Relief charges are paid locally at the ports when the goods arrive, hence, the need for government to, as a matter of urgency, control the activities of these shipping lines operating in Ghana to stop the extortion of importers.
Speaking on GhanaWeb’s BizTech programme, Dr Obeng said, “What we want government to look at is the activities of the shipping lines here. After charging us this huge amount for freight and others, when we come locally here, they charge us some illegal fees at the ports and that is not helping us at all.”
“Especially, the Relief Charges and all that, we think that embed in these freight charges are some of these operational costs locally. So, government should as matter of urgency try and bring a matter of controls into the Shipping lines activities otherwise it is a rip off. I see something like a cartel by these multinationals to rip us off,” he told the interviewer, Ernestina Serwaa Asante.
Dr Obeng advised that these shipping lines work 24/7 like the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to prevent traders’ goods from running into demurrages.
This, he said, will help lessen the burden of importers when clearing their goods at the ports.