DNO- Shipping lines are collecting about 10 types of surcharges on goods at seaports with prices decided by the shipping lines themselves without any agreement with customers.
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| Loading and unloading containers at a Vietnamese seaport. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+) |
The Vietnam Association of Shipping Agents, Brokers and Services (Visaba) has just sent a document to the Prime Minister and ministries and branches on strengthening the management of surcharges of foreign shipping lines.
Emphasizing that current legal regulations of Vietnam have been creating favorable conditions for foreign shipping lines in trading and operating at the country's ports, Visab leaders assessed that the current operation of foreign shipping lines in Vietnam has been significantly affecting the interests of import-export enterprises, seaports, logistics and State management.
Citing the fact that nearly 100% of Vietnam's import and export output is currently handled by foreign shipping lines, Visaba pointed out that foreign shipping lines entering and leaving ports and opening routes do not need to report because current Vietnamese law does not have regulations on registration and management of transport routes.
On the other hand, Visaba also expressed concern that shipping lines are collecting about 10 types of surcharges for goods at seaports such as surcharges for loading and unloading at ports (including both ports of import and ports of export), document surcharges, fuel surcharges, container cleaning surcharges, etc. with prices decided by the shipping lines themselves without any agreement with customers. In particular, since the beginning of 2024, foreign shipping lines have continuously announced an increase of 10-20% in THC fees for each type of container service.
Meanwhile, shipping lines that want to adjust fees and surcharges only need to list price changes 15 days before the price adjustment date and do not have to go through inspection or explanation of the elements constituting fees and surcharges (according to Decree 146/2016 on listing prices and surcharges outside the price of container shipping services by sea and service prices at seaports).
Giving the figure that Vietnam is an important market for foreign shipping lines with 25 million Teus through Vietnamese seaports, of which about 15 million containers of import and export goods, Visaba estimated that if the average surcharge for a container of shipping lines is 200 USD/container, then every year our country will lack control of about 3 billion USD.
"This increases logistics costs and reduces the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods with other countries," Visaba's leader acknowledged.
On that basis, Visaba proposes to add surcharges outside the price of container shipping services by sea to the list of goods and services subject to price declaration to improve the mechanism for managing prices and surcharges for goods at seaports, in order to avoid cases where shipping lines arbitrarily increase prices and overcharge, affecting the interests of cargo owners. In case of super-profitable surcharges, special consumption tax must be applied.
According to Vietnam+
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