Importers have been advised to deal with licensed and credible clearing agents to ensure that they are not defrauded or unduly burdened with cost during the clearance of their vehicles.
Clearing or freight forwarders are the intermediaries between importers and state agencies in the clearance chain.
An importer requires the services of a clearing agent to assist him or her to clear goods out of the port but unfortunately, there have been too many instances, when importers have reported to Eye on Port of being defrauded by unscrupulous clearing agents.
Speaking live on Eye on Port, the General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs of Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority, Esther Gyebi-Donkor; Manda Salifu, Chief Revenue Officer in charge of the Golden-Jubilee Car Park; and Kwaku Okyere Darko, a Technical Committee Member at the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders advised importers to desist from handing over the clearance of their goods to quack agents.
“We need to advise our importers that they really need to deal with legitimate clearing and forwarding agents so that we are able to do away with these unscrupulous ones who are in the system,” Esther Gyebi Donkor expressed.
Kwaku Okyere Darko, in addressing the public’s concern on how to ascertain licensed clearing agents, said the best option is to go to customs who license these clearing agents to recommend a reliable professional.
“We have a list of companies and even if you want to have an agency that is credible you can go to Customs or you can even go to GPHA,” he said.
The technical committee member of GIFF, who said a clearing agent is the mediator between importer and shipping and port service providers, suggested that in order for importers to not suffer to inflated fees by clearing agents, importers have the prerogative to check the right duties by texting the declaration number of consignment to 1477 on all networks.
“So what we do is that you can do a non-validated declaration and send to that importer via WhatsApp or e-mail and he will see the amount he is supposed to pay. If he wants to pay the duty by himself or herself he will ask you to send the validated one and then he or she can proceed to the bank and pay by himself or herself,” he revealed.