The verified gross mass of containers, which is an International Maritime Organisation regulation, came into effect on July 1, 2016, making it mandatory to weigh every container meant for export.

The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) was mandated by the Ministry of Transport to prepare and submit draft regulations for the consideration of the implementation of the VGM.

The regulations submitted had it that a recognised safety organisation should be appointed as the main institutional framework for implementing the VGM.

It also provided for the involvement of other government agencies, including the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Community Network (GCNet) in the verification of the weight of containers.

Shipper committee

But the Shipper Committee, at its 95th meeting held in Accra, argued that the introduction of the regulations would bring additional bureaucratic structures into the processes shippers go through at the country’s ports.

The Head of Legal Services at the Ghana Shippers Authority, Mr Solomon Barfo, expressed worry over the introduction of new fees of $200 for certification and training of facility staff, weighing of packaged container and electronic transmission of VGM via GCNet, adding that they would overburden shippers.

He said he was of the view that shippers were already overburdened with a lot of payments, thus if the new fees were introduced, it would make doing business more expensive.

Mr Barfo wondered why during discussions on the issue, recommendations were made for the section on the fees to be deleted because the procedures could be done at virtually no cost.

“If we sit down and allow this to be introduced, it means we will be overly burdened,” Mr Barfo suggested.

He said it was understandable that all exporters must have officials of Customs at their factories and sites to ensure containers were loaded in line with the set regulations.

While urging exporters to ensure that products they exported were competitive to international standards so they could rake in the needed foreign exchange for the country, Mr Barfo also expressed the hope that the concerns raised by the GASC would be duly addressed by stakeholders to ensure exporters do not lose out on their revenue.