The Ghana Shippers' Council on Wednesday held a day's symposium in Kumasi, on the global economic crisis and its impact on the activities of exporters and importers in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions.
It was designed to broaden the knowledge of the participants and build their capacity to enable them to conform to the best practices in the industry, and adopt efficient measures for the sustenance of their businesses.
Mr. Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive Officer of the Council, asked exporters and importers to strategize their operations, without deviating from their strategic and business plans in response to the paralyzed international trading system.
He said this was necessary to ensure efficient and effective flow of goods and services.
Mr. Mbiah noted that as a result of the global economic crisis, the maritime industry had seen changes and it behoved shippers to study the dynamics of the market in order to become more innovative in their approach to trade.
They should also diversify their market shares to broaden the customer base.
This, he said called for the appropriate segmentation of the market to identify the needs of customers and re-design their services to suit them.
He cautioned importers and exporters to take the insurance of their cargoes seriously to ensure the safety of the freight.
Mr. Mbiah announced that a total of 59 shipping agencies handled the total maritime trade of more than 14.5 million tons for 2008.
He said 29 of them took part in the liner trade and handled more than 6.4 million tons, which represented 44 per cent of the total cargo for the period under review.
Mr. Emmanuel Kwarteng, Acting Kumasi Branch Manager of the Council, said members were committed to the goal of ensuring that the Ghanaian shipper got quick, safe and reliable delivery of import and export cargoes by all modes of transport at optimum cost.