The Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) has made a sudden U-turn on it directive to the shipping lines to waive demurrage charges on cargoes that arrived at the sea ports during the lockdown period of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
In a letter dated April 27, 2020, following The Chronicle news report that same day, the authority admitted that it has no power to direct the shipping lines to take a certain action contrary to their operational ethics as international commercial entities.
The letter signed by the Executive Secretary of the GSA, Benonita Bismarck (Ms), states: “After a lengthy but healthy discussion at our meeting, we wish to make explicit the position that our earlier communication was not an imposition, but rather a request to you to support government in dealing with the Covid-19 scourge.”
The GSA, in its previous communication, ‘directed’ the shipping lines to waive demurrages, detention/rent charges of cargoes that landed and were uncleared at the ports, from March 30, 2020 to the April 19, 2020, when the lockdown was in force.
The said directive was rejected by the Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana (SOAAG), which argued that the Minister of Transport had no power to give them such a directive.
The post Shippers Authority beats a has retreat …on demurrage orders appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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