Ghana Chamber of Shipping calls for a 3-month grace period on cargo insurance directive

The Ghana Chamber of Shipping has called for a three-month grace period to allow businesses to adjust to the mandatory local cargo insurance directive. This was scheduled to take effect on February 1, 2026.

The call was made during a stakeholder roundtable on the enforcement of the local marine cargo insurance policy. Industry players met to deliberate on the directive and its implications for trade and logistics.

The Ministry of Finance recently announced that all commercial cargo imports into Ghana must be insured by insurance companies licensed in the country. This is a move aimed at strengthening the local insurance industry and retaining premiums within the domestic economy.

Although the directive has now been formally communicated, it is not new. The requirement is already captured under Section 222 of the Insurance Act, 2021 (Act 1061), which mandates that imported cargo into Ghana be insured locally.

Despite this legal backing, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Shipping, Dr. Emmanuel Kofi Mbiah, says businesses require additional time to align their operations with the directive to ensure a smooth and disruption-free implementation.

“For those who want to have this implemented smoothly, we will have to give ourselves some time. A period of three months with which we can enforce because this comes with sanctions. If anything happens to the cargo, they can make their claim directly here in Ghana,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chartered Consultant and Lawyer, Larry Jiagge, has expressed confidence in Ghana’s ability to successfully implement the policy. He believes the country has the institutional and technical capacity needed to carry out the directive.

According to him, “all training on marine cargo insurance use the institute cargo clauses anyway, so there is no issue with capacity or experience. We want to assure trade bodies that this market has the capacity, it has experience marine cargo personnel to underwrite and it’s even cheaper to buy marine cargo insurance here in Ghana”.

Stakeholders at the forum agreed that continuous engagement and a carefully managed transition will be critical to ensuring the cargo insurance directive achieves its intended objectives while supporting business continuity and trade facilitation.

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