Paperless agenda officially begins at ports

10:09 - 04 September 2017

This paperless port initiave follows a directive from the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in May 2017.

All agencies at Ghana’s ports will from Monday (September 4, 2017) begin the paperless clearing process after a month of piloting.

This initiative follows a directive from the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in May 2017.

He argued that this will prevent the corruption and long hours of clearing goods at the ports.

According to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), total cargo traffic volumes at the Port of Tema in 2016 rose by 1,269,288 tonnes, a 10.5% increase over the previous year’s performance.

The import sector was successful with local and transit imports increasing by 8.4% and 19.6% respectively over its 2015 performance.

Even though the cargo traffic volumes keeps increasing, many have described operations at the ports as a cumbersome process due to scarce automation processes.

Most of these importers and exporters use middlemen popularly referred to as ‘goro boys’ in order to get their goods cleared.

As the paperless transaction begins the goro boys will have no role to play in clearing goods.