The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce (GNCC) and its partners are inviting bids from private investors to help establish the new regional shipping line which would serve the West African coastline.


Presently, about US$60 million is needed to finance the cost of the vessels and setting up other required infrastructure to enable the new shipping line, which is under the name, Sealink Promotional Company Limited, to commence operations.

“We started the preparations about two years ago with the aim of purchasing four ships to start the initiative but due to unavailability of capital, we are unable to do that. So now we are still engaging investors in order to get the money to invest in the shipping line,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GNCC, Mark Badu-Aboagye, told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of a press soiree organised by the chamber in Accra on Wednesday.

Headquarters

He indicated that the GNCC was currently in talks with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to provide space at the Tema port for the chamber to site the headquarters of the shipping line.

To own the shipping line, Mr Badu-Aboagye said each chamber within the West African Chambers of Commerce and Industries was committed to, at least, purchase a minimum number of shares in the company, which is about US$14,000.

“For us, this is a good initiative because the trade in West Africa is about 12 per cent. If we are able to increase to 30 per cent, we will be able to address a number of challenges such as unemployment, low revenue generation and low integration among countries in the sub region,” he added.

Regional economies

According to him, the ability of the regional economies of West and Central Africa to grow and compete on a global scale depends largely on efficient and barrier-free intra and inter-regional trade.

This sentiment is shared by the regional policy makers and championed by ECOWAS as demonstrated by its 1975 treaty, which among other things established the ECOWAS Trade Liberation Scheme (ETLS).

He said the ETLS protocol on free movement of goods was aimed at eliminating all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and harmonise product safety and other standards within the region.

However, the lack of adequate transportation infrastructure linking the West and Central African economies remains one of the greatest barriers to regional integration and free movement of persons and goods in the sub-region.

“Robust transportation alternatives between the different countries and states in the region would be critical to facilitating increased regional trade flow and achieving the ETLS’s objectives. Accordingly, efficient sea transportation has been identified as one of the most viable solutions to the region’s infrastructure challenges,” the CEO noted.