Importers to receive refunds for wrongly applied war-risk Shipping charges – GSA
11th March 2026
The Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) has announced that importers who were incorrectly billed new shipping surcharges linked to tensions in the Middle East will receive full refunds after an internal investigation.
Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Ransford Gyampo, explained on Wednesday, March 11, that the disputed charges resulted from an automated global billing system used by the shipping line CMA CGM.
According to him, a global directive had been issued to all CMA CGM shipping agencies to activate the War Clause Surcharge in their billing structures.
“Our investigations show that there was a global announcement to all CMA-CGM shipping agencies to invoke the War Clause Surcharge in their list of charges,” he said.
Gyampo further explained that shipping lines rely on a shared global billing centre where invoices are generated. The centre automatically updated the system to include the surcharge, which led to the disputed charges appearing on some invoices.
“The shipping lines use a shared centre where invoices are generated globally. The shared centre automated the system to generate the currently disputed cost line,” he noted.
He added that the anomaly has now been identified and corrective steps are underway to rectify the issue, assuring affected importers that the shipping line will refund the surcharges.
“This anomaly is at the moment being corrected, and all who have been surcharged would receive a refund from the shipping line,” he stated.
The investigation was launched after several importers complained about unexpected surcharges on shipments that had been dispatched weeks before tensions in the Middle East escalated.