<\/p>\n
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, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Participants included officials from maritime administrations, port authorities and customs agencies. Fifteen participants were women.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Africa Transport Policy Programme and World Bank organised the workshop in partnership with the Ghana Maritime Authority.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Discussions focused on accelerating the implementation of Maritime Single Windows and Port Community Systems.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Port Community Systems connect shipping lines, port authorities, customs agencies, freight companies and other stakeholders to improve information sharing and trade processing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The workshop emphasised that Maritime Single Windows should form part of broader, regionally harmonised trade-facilitation systems rather than operate as isolated digital platforms.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Regional institutions shared lessons from assessments of vessel and cargo-clearance systems, including implementation challenges and recommendations for effective digital deployment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Participating countries presented national port systems, enabling officials to compare progress, challenges and opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The workshop also examined how Maritime Single Windows and Port Community Systems could work together to improve port efficiency.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Financing, policy requirements, institutional coordination and implementation of the Facilitation Convention formed part of the practical capacity-building programme.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Port Management Association of West and Central Africa, African Development Bank, African Harbour Masters\u2019 Committee and African Alliance for Electronic Commerce participated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The initiative supports efforts to digitalise African transport and trade corridors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Effective port digitalisation requires more than technology, with strong legislation, capable institutional leadership and coordinated participation among stakeholders also considered essential.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The programme seeks to help countries reduce bureaucracy, accelerate vessel and cargo clearance and strengthen African ports\u2019 role in regional and international trade.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–IMO\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45548,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-49012","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Nine West and Central African countries are strengthening port digitalisation to reduce clearance delays, lower logistics costs and improve competitiveness in global maritime trade.","published_date":"","news_description":"Nine West and Central African countries are strengthening port digitalisation to reduce clearance delays, lower logistics costs and improve competitiveness in global maritime trade.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49014,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49012\/revisions\/49014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}