The move, according to the Commissioner General, was to mitigate the effect the implementation of the newly introduced Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) had had on the business community, particularly importers and exporters.

The disconnection of the port clearance systems by the service providers, West Blue Consulting and the Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet), last Monday, led to a disruption in the clearance processes.

The situation increased congestion at the Terminal Three facility, operated by the Meridian Port Services, thereby necessitating a manual release of containers which had undergone clearance processes prior to April 28.

Two Shipping lines, PIL and Grimaldi Limited, also opened up for business to be able to release cargoes that came through their lines to importers who had completed clearance processes and had made the necessary payments.

Easing congestion

Commercial banks that receive import duty payments which could not serve customers between last Tuesday and Thursday, opened and were receiving payments from importers and agents.

At the Terminal Three, loads of transporters were seen moving container cargo from the holding areas for scanning and to also allow them to be examined by officials of Customs.

The Commissioner of Customs, Col. Kwadwo Damoah (retd), who was at the port to observe activities, told the Daily Graphic that new import declarations were being processed on consignments that were on hold at the terminals so as to quickly ease the facilities.

He indicated that a decision to combine manual operations last Wednesday to allow for containers to be with the existing automation processes available at the port was to reduce congestion.

However, “taking into account that today being a holiday and we are entering into the weekend, we realise that it will be important to work, because if we do not do anything until Monday and the volumes increase at the facility, we may run into challenges,” Col. Damoah said.

Revenue

While the recent challenge with the service providers is said to have impacted Customs’ revenue target for the month, the commissioner admitted that whereas they made some gains in January 2020, the coronavirus pandemic had led to some decline in revenue in February and March since most of Ghana’s trade traffic came from China, Singapore, Malaysia, “so we couldn’t hit the GH¢1 billion target mark in February,” he said.

“April is likely to be worse as a result of COVID-19 and the challenge we have had with the operating system of the service providers, because we lost the whole of Tuesday, which is the day revenue payment takes a peak,” Col. Damoah explained.

Transactions, he said, usually peaked from Tuesday, and they had expressed the hope to make some gains, but that was not the case.

ICUMS

Asked whether declarants had begun processing declarations on the new ICUMS system, the commissioner said they had engaged the shipping lines as well as the terminal operators, who stressed the need for the ICUMS to be made compatible with their operating systems, and officials were in the process of doing that.

The shipping lines, he said, had complained that they raised some concerns with the ICUMS service providers, but received no feedback as to how the working modalities would be, and, therefore, were surprised by the launch on April 28.

“However, we are hoping to accelerate the pace of engagement so the system can become operational, although the Meridian Port Services has begun piloting the ICUMS to see whether it is compatible with their system,” he stressed.

Agents

Some freight forwarders, who were at the terminals to clear their cargo, expressed satisfaction with the processes, but they pleaded with the commissioner to waive rent charges accrued on state warehouse storage.