INCREASE OF PORT SAFETY CHARGES
A letter dated 30th August 2017 has been sent from the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) to the shipping companies indicating an increase of 233% of the Safety Charge. This directive is expected to take effect from 1st October 2017.
This measure can have negative consequences for a number of port shipping companies in Tema and Takoradi. It can especially affect the transit market (hence shipments through Tema with destination Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali etc.) because port charges are lower in for instance Benin.
An example of the extra costs will be explained below:
Safety Charge increase from US$ 0.15 cents per GRT to US$0.50 cents per GRT per 40000 Gross Tonnage and less.
In the example a port company has handled 20 ships of each 40000 Gross Tonnage; extra costs will be 20 x 40000 x US$0.35 cents => US$ 280000
If this company has done 2000 TEU (1 TEU is 20 ft container); this will be US$ 140 extra per container
Especially feeders, container ships under 3,000 TEU have a considerable increase per TEU.
Source: GNBCC
