RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.21
3April 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-0783)
Original: English Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
COMMUNICATION FROM GHANA
Response toQuestionnaire onMaritime Transport Services
I. Market Structure
Vessels
1.
TYPE OFVESSEL NATIONAL FLAG FOREIGN FLAG
No.ofVessels DWT Tonnage No.ofVessels DWT Tonnage
General Cargo 2 32,000 3 45,000
Ro-Ro
Total 2 32,000 45,000
Trade
2. Total trade bysea:
Quantity Percentage
6,122,269 75%
3. Export/Import Estimates:
Quantity Percentage
Export: 2,020,348 33%
Import: 4,101,920 67%S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.21
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4. Total Maritime Trade inMetric Tonnes:
Total Trade: 6,122,269
Total BulkShare: 3,869,678
Total Liner Share: 2,252,594
B.S.L. Liner Share: 51,343
B.S.L. BulkShare: 0
*B.S.L. (Black StarLine) istheNational FlagCarrier.
5. Cross Trading/Home Trading:
Thetotalof51,343 oftrade carried byBSLwasbycross trading. Thismeans there wasno
home trading overtheperiod.
Organization ofCargo
6. Total trade byLiner Shipping:
DryBulk Liquid Bulk
2,328,459 1,541,216
7. Total trade byConference/Consortia: 2,252,594
8. Noinformation available atthisstage.
9. Noinformation available atthisstage.
10. Total ofContainerized Liner Cargo: 65% 15%
11. Nocargo wascarried bymeans ofMultimodal Transport arrangements.
Ports andAuxiliary Services:
12. Total National PortTraffic : 1,520 calls
Total Traffic inMajor Ports :
Tema : 1,074 calls
Takoradi : 446calls
Total Containerized Traffic : 15%
13. Container Station andDepot Services - Noforeign suppliers
Maritime Agency Services - Foreign suppliers present
Maritime Freight Forwarding Services - Foreign suppliers present
Maritime Cargo Handling Services - Noforeign suppliers
Storage andWarehousing Services - Noforeign suppliers
Customs Clearance Services - Noforeign suppliersS/NGMTS/W/2/Add.21
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14. Noforeign suppliers.
II. Regulatory Structure
General
1. TheMinister ofTransport andCommunications, through theDivision ofShipping and
Navigation, isresponsible fortheInternational Maritime Transport sector. Inaddition:
-TheGhana Shippers 'Council;
-Ghana Ports andHarbours Authority;
-TheGhana Navy; and
-Shipregisters; havespecific horizontal responsibilities.
2. Freecompetition principle isapplied, taking intoaccount regulations concerning maritime
safety andpollution prevention.
3. Ghana allows freecompetition asfaraslinershipping isconcerned.
4. Norestrictions onrentorlease ofequipment andnon-discriminatory access toanduseof
relevant multimodal activities, though thismode hasnotbeenfullyestablished.
5. Ports aremanaged bytheGovernment through theGhana Ports andHarbours Authority who
havetheauthority toallocate scarce resources tocommercial operators onapplication tothem.
6. "International maritime transport" isnotatermdefined intheLaws andRegulations ofGhana.
Bycommonunderstanding,itcanbesaidtomeantransportationbywaterofcommoditiesorpassengers,
forhire,between theports ofGhana andtheports ofanyforeign country orcountries. Cabotage
isnotcovered bythisdefinition.
7. "National Shipping Enterprise" areenterprises thatsatisfy thefollowing criteria:
a)owned wholly byaperson whoisacitizen ofGhana;
b)owned wholly byabodycorporate established under theCompanies Code, 1963(Act179)
andhaving itsprincipal place ofbusiness inGhana;
c)owned byaGhana Statutory Corporation;
d)owned byanycombination oftheforegoing bythemselves orwiththeGovernment; or
e)thesubject ofabareboat charter under which thelessee isanyofthepersons specified
inparagraphs (a),(b),(c)or(d)above.
Market Access
8. a)Ghana hasaliberalized maritime transport services supply system.
b)Nomeasures exist.
c)Ghana doesnotoperate anallocation mechanism perse,butshippers areencouraged to
shipasappropriate.
d) i) Generally thelawrequires that75percentofshipboard officers should be
Ghanaians.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.21
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ii) Generally there arenorestrictions inthisregard.
9. a) There arenorestrictions except inrelation toownership ofaGhanaian vessel.
b) No.
10. Inprinciple, there arenosuchlimitations.
11. Asin7above.
a) Yes,referto8above.
b) No.
c) Yes.
National Treatment
12. a) No.
b) No.
Access ToandUseofPortFacilities
13. Alllisted services withtheexception ofengine repairs andballast waste disposal areavailable
attheports.
14. Mandatory services;
- Pilotage
- Towing andtugassistance
- Navigational aids
15. Allservices areavailable onanon-discriminatory basis.
16. No.
17. No.
18. No.
19. No.
Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment
20. No.
21. Notrelevant.
22. Byvirtue ofPNDC law181andLegislative Instrument 1347 cargo sharing ispermitted on
thebasis ofArticle 2oftheCode ofConduct forLiner Conferences.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.21
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Government measures which apply thesaidprovision iscontained intheabove-mentioned
laws, butGhana doesnotadhere toarigidapplication ofthe40-40-20 formula. Ghanaian Shippers
areencouraged toimport onFOBbasis andtoexport onC&Fterms soastoenable them tohave
therighttonominate vessels oftheirchoice.
Information oncargo ismade available totheNational Lines whoengage infreecompetition
forcargoes available.
23. No.
24. Yes,special berthing rights andwarehousing facilities aregiven tolandlocked countries in
West Africa, particularly Burkina Faso.
25. No.
26. No.
Government Procurement
27. Nomeasures exist.
28. Nomeasures exist.
Competition Law
29. Thelawsregardingfreecompetitionaregenerallywideandliberalandapplywithinthemaritime
transport system.
a) There arenosuchlawsregulating theCode ofConduct oflinerconferences.
Items (b),(c)and(d)Notapplicable.
Shipping Conferences
30-34. With therecent collapse ofliner conferences operating intheWest andCentral African
sub-region therearefreshattempts toformAfrican based linerconferences which would thenformulate
itsownrules andregulations.
Shipper/Carrier Relations
35. TheGhana Shippers 'Council, asanassociation ofshippers, hasastanding protocol withthe
Shipowners 'Association through which negotiations onfreight rates, portcharges, tariffs etc.are
made.
36. Freight ratesarenegotiated between theShippers 'Council andthecarriers inaccordance with
market ratestructures.
Terms andconditions ofservice aregenerally agreed upon between theShippers 'Council
andtheShipowners Association.
TheShippers 'Council isagovernment agency through which disputes regarding freight rates,
excess portcharges, short landing ofcargoes, pilferage, defacement ofcargo, etc,aresettled.