Shippers council says will charge at ship-owners over fees

Vietnam Shipper’s Council said it would step in to settle complaints by Vietnam goods owners who are being imposed ’unreasonable charges’ on their products in many ports across the country.

Tran Duc Minh, head of the council, told the Daily on the phone on Monday that he was gathering opinions of shippers and would organize a meeting in September with ship-owners as well as port operators in big cities to solve the matter. Details of the meeting have not been revealed yet.

From September, garment and textile exporters shipping goods through Hai Phong Port have had to pay congestion charges amounting up to US$100 per container imposed by ship owners. Local exporters disagree with the charge as their shipments have got stuck on the site due to bad infrastructure rather than their faults.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association have then required the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to help remove the congestion charge as well as to find long-term solutions for the matter.

Many importers and exporter have long questioned the ’unreasonable charges’ when shipping goods to foreigner buyers. Among the charges is the Terminal Handling Charge (THC) imposed by international ship-owners associations since mid July 2008 on exported goods, which has stoke tension among exporters.

According to local exporters, it is their foreigner trade partners who must be responsible for the payment as they hire the ships.

Under prevailing trade practices in Vietnam, local enterprises often import goods under the mode of CIF (cost, insurance and freight price) and export goods on FOB (free on board), which means foreigner buyers have to bear all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods onboard the ship.

However, many international ship owners have required local enterprises to pay for the THC charge, which is up to US$140 per container.

According to shippers, they have to bear too many unreasonable charges imposed not only by ship-owners but also by port operators. Those overheads will add to their transport cost and consequently reduce their profits.-SGT

Tags: Vietnam Shipbuilding industry