The five-day regional workshop, held over the last week, in Accra, Ghana, brought together 55 participants from Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe and Sierra Leone.
Participants included officials from maritime administrations, port authorities and customs agencies. Fifteen participants were women.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Africa Transport Policy Programme and World Bank organised the workshop in partnership with the Ghana Maritime Authority.
Discussions focused on accelerating the implementation of Maritime Single Windows and Port Community Systems.
Maritime Single Windows allow shipping companies and port users to submit vessel, cargo and regulatory information electronically through one platform. The systems are mandatory under the IMO Facilitation Convention.
Port Community Systems connect shipping lines, port authorities, customs agencies, freight companies and other stakeholders to improve information sharing and trade processing.
The workshop emphasised that Maritime Single Windows should form part of broader, regionally harmonised trade-facilitation systems rather than operate as isolated digital platforms.
Participants were also encouraged to adopt the IMO Compendium on Facilitation and Electronic Business, which standardises how shipping and port information is structured and exchanged electronically.
Regional institutions shared lessons from assessments of vessel and cargo-clearance systems, including implementation challenges and recommendations for effective digital deployment.
Participating countries presented national port systems, enabling officials to compare progress, challenges and opportunities.
The workshop also examined how Maritime Single Windows and Port Community Systems could work together to improve port efficiency.
Financing, policy requirements, institutional coordination and implementation of the Facilitation Convention formed part of the practical capacity-building programme.
The Port Management Association of West and Central Africa, African Development Bank, African Harbour Masters’ Committee and African Alliance for Electronic Commerce participated.
The Accra event was the third regional workshop in the series, following gatherings in Abidjan in December 2025 and Dar es Salaam in April 2026.
The initiative supports efforts to digitalise African transport and trade corridors.
Effective port digitalisation requires more than technology, with strong legislation, capable institutional leadership and coordinated participation among stakeholders also considered essential.
The programme seeks to help countries reduce bureaucracy, accelerate vessel and cargo clearance and strengthen African ports’ role in regional and international trade.
–IMO/ChannelAfrica–
