Exporters in the northern sector of the country have been advised to endeavour to secure the necessary documents from relevant state agencies to accompany their goods on transit to ensure smooth transportation to ports for export.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Innocent Avevor, Divisional Commander, Tamale, who gave the advice, also urged exporters to ensure that drivers and vehicles transporting their goods to the ports were also licensed and had all necessary road worthy documents to avoid running into problems with the police on the roads.

He gave the advice at an exporters’ forum in Tamale organised by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority on the theme: “Overcoming Trade Barriers to enhance Exports in the Northern Sector: The Role of Stakeholders”.

The forum, attended by some exporters from the northern sector of the country, was to address some of the critical issues regarding goods moving to and fro the northern sector of the country to the south, and for onward regarding
There were presentations on Export procedures for non-traditional exports and other related exports, road governance, transport and trade facilitation, and export financing.

Some of the exporters alleged that police at various barriers along the roads concentrated more on collecting money from them, a situation, which sometimes delayed the movement of goods on the roads especially when the exporters refused to yield to their demands.

Other exporters also appealed for opening of transit routes at Tatale and Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region such that goods from Togo to the northern part of the country could use those routes to reduce cost of transportation.

ACP Avevor said goods including; their drivers and vehicles transporting them that had the right documentation cover would easily pass through police barriers hence the need for the exporters and their drivers to do the right things to ensure smooth transportation of their goods.

He clarified that it was the duty of the police on the roads to prevent the commission of crimes and ensure safety, saying it was the reason why they thoroughly inspected all documents covering goods to ensure that they were covered by the right documentation.

Acting Assistant Commissioner, Mr David Yilinan, Northern Sector Commander of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Customs Division responded to the appeal by some of the exporters to open transit routes at Tatale and Bunkpurugu and advised them to formally address such issues to the Commissioner-General of GRA for consideration.

Ms Benonita Bismarck, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, whose speech was read on her behalf, expressed the commitment of the Authority to continue to negotiate favourable freight rates and service standards of shipping service providers to ensure that shippers were able to trade competitively on the international market.