Shippers continue to slap fees on im-exporters

Foreign shipping firms are imposing surcharges to cover container security, workers’ strikes, and container imbalance on exporters and importers.

Instead of simplifying procedures to cut fees, they have tended to slap more and bigger fees and surcharges.

H, who works for the import-export department at a HCMC-based garment firm, told Tuoi Tre that his company has to pay more than 10 kinds of surcharges.

His company, whose imports and exports add up to around 250 containers a month, has to pay billions of dong and any delay in payment leads to further millions as fine.

Many firms have complained about the imposition of a Container Imbalance Charge (CIC) since last month.

Since more containers are imported to Vietnam than exported, shipping firms have to return with empty containers, and thus the new charge.

The CIC, at around US$60 for a 20-feet container and $120 for a 40-feet container, is mostly applied to imports from Asian nations, Ngoc Thuy, an employee of a logistics firm in HCMC told Tuoi Tre.

Businesses have no choice but to pay, she added.

A Singaporean shipping firm told Tuoi Tre that the surcharge is collected also because of the congestion at Vietnamese ports which cause delays, thus increasing transport costs.

Besides, an emergency bunker surcharge, hovering at one-third to half the CIC rate, is also burdening businesses.

Importers of Chinese goods also have to pay a cost plus incentive fee to their Chinese partners.

Rough estimates show that Vietnamese importers pay charges and surcharges of VND12 million -13 million per 40-feet container. Exporters are, however, spared certain charges.

Thuy said surcharges are demanded for trivial things like covering workers’ strikes at destination ports, container cleaning and security, currency adjustment, and others, burdening firms.

A representative of Lien Anh Company, a ship broker in HCMC, told Tuoi Tre that the domination by foreign shipping firms means they can impose or increase fees and surcharges without prior announcement or roadmap.

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