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Commodity jam fee makes enterprises moan
A lot of shipping companies have announced they will collect a so-called ‘commodity jam fee’ of $50-100/container. Import-export companies are violently opposing the newly-created fee.
Commodity jam fee?
Pham Phu Cuong, Deputy General Director of Nha Be Garment Company, has estimated that his company would have to pay VND253mil a month for 200 containers of imports, which would put another heavy burden on the company in the current difficult period of the national economy.
Cuong said that his company in particular and garment companies in general are now in a period of intense production. Therefore, his company always wants to get imports right on arrival so as to get them into production quickly. However, with the current terrible deadlock at ports, getting imports right at arrival proves to be impossible, which also means that the company faces the risk of having to compensate clients for late deliveries.
Nguyen Dinh Truong, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, HCM City Branch, said that it is unfair to impose a fee on enterprises while the responsibility for the commodity jams must be accepted by ports’ management boards.
According to Pham Xuan Hong, General Director of Saigon 3 Garment Company, there are some 300 garment companies that have imports and exports going through ports. Each of the big companies has some 200-300 containers going through ports a month, while smaller ones have 50-100 containers, which means that every company would have to pay an additional $2-30,000 in ‘commodity jam fees’.
Nguyen Hoang Pho, Import-Export Director under Esquel Garment Manufacturing, said that it would be unbearable for companies if they had to pay a terminal handling charge (THC), which has increased by $70-105/container, and commodity jam fee at the same time. Pho said that his company has had to pay a lot of additional money recently due to the container deadlock.
Why?
Explaining the strange new type of fee, shipping companies said that the commodity jam occurring at Cat Lai, Tan Cang and VICT ports has pushed expenses way up, to levels unbearable for them.
Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines was the pioneer in initiating this type of fee. A representative of the shipping firm said that it discussed this with some other shipping agents before coming to an agreement on collecting fees to reduce losses. He said that ships now have to wait too long at Vietnamese ports to get commodities, which has made expenses higher.
Wan Hai Lines plans to begin collecting the fees on July 23.
A South Korean shipping firm said that previously, it took 10 days only to carry commodities from South Korea to Vietnam, while it now takes 20 or 25 days. The container leasing fee alone costs it $4-5/day/40-feet container, and $3/day/20-feet container.
Colonel Nguyen Dang Nghiem, General Director of Tan Cang Saigon port, said that he is against the decision to collect commodity jam fees by shipping agents.
Nghiem said that everyday, the port releases 6,400 TEU, which means that the commodity jam is not as serious as described. Nghiem also said that ships do not have to wait long at ports, and they have no reason to collect fees.
VNN
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