Minister of Aviation, Mr Kofi Adda, has expressed satisfaction with measures put in place so far by Cargo handling companies at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), following government’s safety directives issued in the wake of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
He was, however, concerned with crowding at some sections of the cargo companies urging management to take immediate action to correct the glitch.
Mr Adda made the observation when he toured companies including McDan Aviation, Aviance and Swissport at the KIA last Thursday to assess precautionary measures in place to contain the spread of the pandemic.
At the visit, it was observed that all cargo companies had provided staff with personal protective equipment (PPE), had mounted sanitisers at vantage places with directional signs to hand washing facilities, while others had thermometers in place to check the temperature of staff upon entry to warehouses.
The difficulty though was the number of people that assembled at a place at a time which defeated the rule on social distancing of two metres.
Mr Adda, speaking to journalists after the tour indicated that his outfit in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders would engage the cargo companies on reducing crowding in such areas.
“Measures in place are fairly good as we expected them to be particularly happy with the employee education programmes though little unhappy about the crowding because we said only 25 people should be at a location at one time so we will work that out to make sure we reduce the number that can congregate,” he said.
Country Manager of Swissport, Chris Goodsir disclosed that though Cargo companies were beginning to bear the brunt of the ban of some flights into the country, his outfit was willing to comply with all laid down measures to contain the spread of the disease.
“The flight cancellation have affected our revenue. For instance, last year we moved about 952,000 tonnes of goods directly from and we expect that that will drop this year.
Already, we are beginning to see a drop from January till now. Our volumes have dropped by 17 per cent already from all countries hit by the pandemic, especially, China.”
Noting that the company has recorded “substantial loss in revenue”, Mr Goodsir nonetheless outlined measures in place to ensure job security for workers in the midst of the epidemic, while ensuring a right environment to prevent possible cases.
“We have put in place thermometers, there is security check and workers are issued with masks and gloves on duty. We have cleaners on standby cleaning all open surfaces to avoid contact and our doors are automatic so that no one touches door handles which could transmit the disease.”
Mr Richard Baah, Operations Manager of Aviance, corroborated the drop in imports of goods into the country saying, “Most of our cargo come on passenger flights and with the ban, we are seeing a drop but we are determined to keep up with business.”
He said other agencies including the Port Health, Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) were always on hand to ensure the safety of goods and workers.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
