Shippers Decry Low Gains From Exports

THE GHANA Shippers Authority (GSA) has lamented the low gains received from the export of non-traditional exports (NTEs) and how it affects the economy.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GSA, Sylvia Asana Dauda-Owu, who delivered a speech on behalf of Benonita Bismarck, CEO of GSA, at a forum organised Thursday in Accra, attributed the development mainly to the nation’s over-reliance on the export of raw materials, the lack of value addition to raw materials and the apparent neglect for or low levels of the export of NTEs due to challenges facing exporters.

She said such concerns of exporters bordered on high freight rates, poor handling of cargo by handlers, rejection of cargo due to poor labeling and packaging and long transit time, among other export-related challenges.

The deputy CEO therefore called on shipping and logistics service providers to assist Ghanaian exporters on improved ways of storing and packaging their products, to meet requirements at their foreign destinations.

“The development of the new National Export Strategy which is spearheaded by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority is expected to draw viable strategies to fall within the context of the National Industrial Transformation Agenda,” she said.

Resource persons from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Swissport Ghana, Air Ghana and Plant Protection and Regulatory Service Department (PPRSD), took the participants through how to overcome the several challenges bedeviling the operations of exporters, especially NTEs.

A Senior Shipper Services and Trade Facilitation Officer of the GSA, Roy Adibi, making a presentation on “The Critical Role of Transport Logistics in the Export Value Chain,” said they must ensure that their vehicles used to transport the export commodities were hygienically treated and kept from loading chemicals that could affect NTEs.

Also present at the forum were representatives from the National Association of Handicraft Exporters, Konkomba Yam Farmers and Exporters Association, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Ghana Airport Company, Greater Accra Art and Craft Dealers Association, National Insurance Commission, DHL Express among others, participated in the one-day forum.