For years, Ghana’s ports have been the heartbeat of trade in West Africa. Tema and Takoradi are not just entry points for goods; they are lifelines for businesses, jobs, and government revenue. But today, that heartbeat is under strain.

A coalition of freight forwarders, customs agents, and traders announced a four-day nationwide strike that brought operations at Tema Port to a standstill. No duty payments, no cargo clearance, no movement. 

The reason? A new AI-driven valuation system and years of unresolved grievances have left the very people who keep the ports running feeling ignored.

This is not the first protest. And if nothing changes, it will not be the last.

Freight forwarders have long complained about obscure and exorbitant charges imposed by shipping lines.

It is reported that it costs almost $1,000 in fees just to retrieve cargo from a shipping line.

These include local administrative charges, container cleaning fees, empty container fees, and demurrage charges that accrue even on weekends and public holidays when ports don’t operate.

The Ghana Shippers’ Authority has made it clear, per L.I. 2190, that shipping lines must negotiate local charges with the Authority before imposing them.

Yet enforcement remains weak, and forwarders say the government has failed to address their concerns.

In March this year, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) rolled out an AI-driven cargo valuation system. The idea was to modernise risk analysis and curb under-declaration.

But forwarders say the system is creating more chaos.

The argument is that the Publican AI acts as a minimum valuation regime, preventing customs officers Clearance has slowed from applying values below those generated by the system. Duties have spiked, and for this, industry players demand the immediate suspension of the implementation of the AI.

In March 2024, a nationwide internet outage paralysed Ghana’s paperless port system. Cargo could not be cleared, yet demurrage and storage fees piled up. Forwarders demanded waivers, but shipping lines refused, saying they were not responsible for internet failures.

The Ghana Shippers’ Authority lacks legal power to compel waivers, a gap that keeps costing businesses.

When freight forwarders bleed, everyone bleeds. Importers face higher costs, which are passed to consumers. Small businesses lose contracts because they cannot guarantee delivery times.

The government loses revenue when ports shut down.

The protests are not sabotage. They are a distress signal from the people who understand the port better than anyone.

THE WAY FORWARD

If Ghana is serious about becoming West Africa’s trade gateway under AfCFTA, these fires cannot keep burning. Here are some steps the government must take:

Technology should support trade, not strangle it.

The government must suspend Publican AI as a mandatory valuation tool and revert to statutory methods under Act 891 while a full stakeholder review is done. Use AI for risk flagging, not as a price floor.

Compel all shipping lines to submit local charges for approval by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority. Scrap demurrage on weekends and public holidays when clearing is impossible. Where fees are illegally charged, order refunds.

Forwarders are right: port issues cut across finance, trade, transport, and security. Set up a legally mandated council with all agencies and private sector reps to make binding decisions.

No more interagency blame games.

If shipping lines want to charge demurrage daily, they must operate daily. Equally, GRA and GPHA must have offline backup systems so that a fibre cut does not shut down the economy.

No one is against modernisation.

I believe freight forwarders support digitisation; they were early adopters of ICUMS. What they reject is being used as test subjects for unstable systems while also battling exploitation from shipping lines.

The ports work when there is trust. Right now, trust is broken.

The government’s job is not to win arguments with stakeholders.

It is to fix systems so businesses can thrive.