Ghana’s Shippers Authority goes digital with ‘ShippersApp’ for ease of doing business
At a time Nigerian maritime stakeholders are decrying the imposition of strange Port Business Registration Fee by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), its Ghanaian counterpart, the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), on Wednesday, unveiled new mobile phone application known as “ShippersApp” to serve as a one-stop shop for dissemination of timely, reliable and relevant maritime information to industry players.
The mobile app would also aid shippers within and outside the country’s jurisdiction to access shipping activities for prompt decision making.
GSA said all the Authority’s publications such as the Shipping Review, the Maritime Digest, its leaflets on Import and Export procedures and other information on its website would be made available on the app for the success of players in the maritime industry.
It would be recalled that there had been outrage amongst Nigerian maritime business operators over the new tax which majority saw as another form of multiple taxation and distortion of ease of doing business at the ports.
Stakeholders berated Shippers Council, saying rather than all the maritime agencies to come together and harmonise their taxes, they are individually frustrating port business with frivolous fees and taxes all in the aim of raising revenue for government instead of facilitating businesses.
However, explaining issued, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Ms Benonita Bismarck, said the mobile application has been designed to bring the services of the GSA to the doorstep of shippers to ensure convenience for customers everywhere.
The app has been placed on Appstore or Google Play Store and can be accessed on mobile phones, tablets and other devices.
In a presentation to explain the use of the app, Mr. Godwin Kofi Biney, the Head of the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department of the GSA, said some relevant shipping information are readily available on the app for the convenience of users.
He mentioned shipping information, including Negotiated charges of Shipping Service Providers such as the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), freight forwarders and other shipping service providers.
Others are; contacts and location of shipping agents, freight forwarders, Customs house agents and government’s agencies and other shipping service providers.
More so, the app contained the expected time of arrival (ETA) of vessels, and vessels in port, maritime trade statistics and notices to shippers, industry news, among others.
Biney, therefore, urged all shippers to download the app so that they wouldn’t have to cross-check from one place to another before accessing information on shipments.
“Building this app will help us to get closer to our shippers and ensure comfortability in meeting their need,” Biney said.
Several Nigerian maritime stakeholders, who reviewed the latest Ghanaian development in the maritime sector, welcomed the technology and called on NSC to learn from Ghana.
