Transport and logistics operatos must be up and doing

By Ama Amankwah Baafi


The Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours and Authority (GPHA), Mr R.A.Y Anamoo, has urged stakeholders in the transport and logistics industry to work hard to promote efficiency in the discharge of their duties and provide customer satisfaction.

He said the maritime industry for instance is facing tough times as ports are always congested and asked “Is it artificial or are we contributing to the situation. Shipping lines refuse to pay stevedoring companies swiftly. How fast are customers served and what are companies doing to ensure that shippers are at peace that their goods would arrive safely”, he asked.

Speaking at the launch of the maiden Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) award for Tema, he charged CILT to do thorough evaluation to ensure that professionalism and efficiency is achieved through the awards.

The theme for the awards is “Driving Efficiency and Innovation to Improve Capacity and Performance at the Ports of Ghana”. CILT Tema is organising the awards in collaboration with the CIG.

Experts say the gains that could be derived from improvement in the logistics and transport industry is a vital component of trade.

Research has shown that the cost of logistics pose a greater barrier to trade than import tariffs and make up a larger part of the delivered cost of food products, increasing food price, and thus has large impact on poverty.

Logistics involves the management of the flow of resources, not only goods, between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers, while transport is the movement of products and people from one point to another via air, sea, road and rail.

According to the Executive Secretary of Corporate Initiative Ghana (CIG), Mr Afotey Odarteifio, it has become imperative for Ghana to work to improve further the efficiency in the transport and logistics industry since the gains can be quite significant.

“I believe the transport and logistics sector is doing fine but it could do better because studies attest to the potency of competition in driving improved performance in the transport and logistics sector,” he stated

He said for most countries that are pursuing export led growth strategies, a key component is an effective and efficient logistics framework that addresses the full spectrum of the value and production chain to reduce distribution and processing costs.

A logistics framework, he said includes hardware, which is the physical infrastructure needed to move goods effectively, and software which is the associated and processes needed to move and trade goods effectively.

The National President of CILT, Mr Godwin Mensah said as a measure to ensure professionalism in the industry and maximize its role to economic development, professional programmes are being run at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Takoradi Polytechnic.

Proposed corporate categories of the awards include freight forwarding, stevedoring and haulage companies, freight consolidators, transit trade, inland container depots, shipping lines agencies and transshipment trade.