Ghana’s shipping regulator says importers who were charged a controversial $1,000 “Emergency Conflict Surcharge” on cargo shipments will receive refunds after investigations revealed the fee was triggered by an automated billing error.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Ransford Gyampo, had earlier criticised shipping companies after complaints from importers that the charge had been applied to cargo bound for Ghana.
The surcharge, reportedly imposed by global shipping firms including CMA CGM and Maersk, was described by some importers as an “Emergency Conflict Surcharge” of about $1,000 per container.
Businesses argued the fee was unfair because it was applied to shipments that had already been dispatched weeks before tensions escalated in parts of the Middle East.
In an update on the matter, Gyampo said investigations by the authority found that a global directive had been issued to shipping agencies of CMA CGM to activate a war-risk clause surcharge in their list of charges.
According to him, the companies operate a shared global billing centre that automatically generates invoices for shipments worldwide. The system, he said, inadvertently added the disputed surcharge line to invoices for some cargo.
“This anomaly is at the moment being corrected and all who have been surcharged would receive a refund from the shipping line,” Gyampo said in a Facebook post.
Shipping companies often introduce war-risk or conflict-related surcharges when geopolitical tensions threaten major maritime routes, increasing insurance and security costs.
However, importers in Ghana had argued that applying the charge to cargo already in transit before the escalation of conflict amounted to unfair billing.
The clarification from the Ghana Shippers’ Authority suggests affected importers are expected to receive refunds once the billing error is fully corrected.
