ECOWAS To Adopt Ghana's High-tech Cargo Transit System

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is to adopt an Internet-based tracking and
mapping technology to promote and enhance trade within the African subregion. Ghana's Customs, Excise
and Preventive Service (CEPS) is currently using the ITransit technology, which allows officials to monitor cargo in transit along designated routes to neighboring landlocked countries.

The technology allows CEPS and its partner, Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNET), to monitor the cargo's movement via satellite and the Internet after a tracking unit is placed on top of the cargo. The tracking unit allows officials to trace each truck's location to countries like Burkina Faso, Togo, Mali and Niger without paying duty.

Ghana is the only country in Sub-Saharan African using an integrated system. Other nations in the region depend on manual systems.Chris Holden, operations manager of GCNET, said the I-Transit system would help the customs unit to better manage risks.

Holden explained that the system is integrated, incorporating a sub-consignment, transit vehicle and foreign importer registration, route and check point definition, e-bonding, on-line check points and data exchange with destination customs officials. The system also entails the use of IP (Internet Protocol)
camera footage at the entry and exit points and relayed via GCNET to the control room of CEPS. In total, the units cost US$1.5 million to develop.