Oakland Company Limited, one of the garment factories located in the Tema Free Zones enclave established under the President Special Initiative on Garment , has retrenched over half of its workers due to what management says are serious challenges confronting them in their work. According to the General Manager Chandrapela Dissanyake, so serious are their challenges mostly with shipping that the company has just had a two-year-contract worth some $2million cancelled by its clients in the United States of America. Mr. Dissanyake was speaking during a tour of the company’s facilities by the Eastern Regional Shippers Council as part of their familiarisation tour of the shipping industry. The General Manager said while their competitors in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India ship their products within an average of 18 days, it takes 45 days for the Ghanaian products to reach their US partners. He said many shipping companies in Ghana complain that because they do not get a lot of business from Ghana they have stopped their direct shipping services and the trend has taken a toll on local industries. Another problem the company faces is high cost of labour which has increased their production cost. Mr. Dissanyake said at full capacity, the company shipped six 40ft containers a month to their clients. “We are now relying on local orders which are not enough but we are engaging a team who will solicit business orders for us.” High utility costs, especially electricity and water are some other major problems. The Shippers Council Branch Manager Naa Densua Aryeetey promised to go into the matter to find out the actual cause of the shipping delays and seek redress. She said the tour was only the beginning of a series of training and familiarisation visits organized for members of the Council. At Aviance Limited, the head of Airside Operation, Mark Ofori told the team that the Ghana Airport Company Limited had promised to construct a cooling facility at the export section. The Acting chairman of the Eastern Shippers Council, Osei Ampofo called for more collaboration between the council and other organizations to identify some of their challenges and help resolve them. Credit: Afia Pokuaa (Adom FM)