Businesses are annoyed by the increased fees being charged at Hai Phong Port City (Photo: baogiaothong.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) -Businesses have complained about the decision to charge high fees for usinginfrastructure, service facilities and public utilities at all ports in Hai Phongcity.
On December 13, 2016, themunicipal People’s Committee promulgated a resolutionregulating the fees to be charged for construction, infrastructure, servicebuildings and public utilities in the city. The resolution took effect at thebeginning of the year.
Accordingly, individuals andorganisations that have shipments stored at bonded warehouses must now pay 2.2 millionVND (97 USD) to 4.8million VND (220 USD) per container. This is an increase of nearly 70 percent. The fees for goods in transit are 500,000 VND to 1million VND.
The infrastructure fee is an expansion of the service costsrelating to temporary import and re-export, transit and storage in bondedwarehouses, implemented in 2013.
HaiPhong Port now accounts for morethan a third of Vietnam’s total cargo throughput, second to Sai Gon New Port.
Many firms are shocked andconfused by the decision.
DaoThi Thu Huyen, a representative of theJapan External Trade Organization (JETRO), told a conference on February 13that the fees were too high.
The new fees range from around 11USD per 20-cubic-foot container for regular goods, to up to 100 USD percontainer for goods temporarily imported for re-export, Huyen said. She said a JETRO surveyshowed that 65 percent of Japanese firms are worried about the city’s decision.
“ManyJapanese companies are confused about what is going on," she said, addingthat the collection had not been transparent. HaiPhong city has collected fees even while the infrastructure was not completed. She also said the city should conduct a survey to get opinions onthe issue.
Dao Minh Giam, general secretary of the VietnamYoung Entrepreneurs Association, was worried that foreign firms could chooseThailand for their re-import-export destination in the Southeast Asian regioninstead of Vietnam, affecting the country’s competitiveness.
PhamThi Ngoc Thuy, deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Private Sector Forum(VPSF), agreed, saying that Hai Phong had imposed a surprise decision,frightening foreign firms with sudden changes they did not know how to handle.
She added that apart from highercosts, the new fees also result in more paperwork that can require an extra twoto three hours to finish. Up to 20 percent of businesses had to rent warehousesfor a full day to complete the procedures, resulting in additional costs.
Calculationsby experts showed that firms must spend more than 15.2 million USD a year onwarehouses and interest rates, apart from the fees paid to the city.
According to the Hai PhongDepartment of Finance, its ports receive 80 million tonnes of goods each yearand can collect 1.5 trillion VND from the proposed fees.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said it was concerned that theresolution would create dangerous precedent inother air and sea ports, detrimental to export activities of enterprises.
Therefore, VCCI suggested to the Prime Minister that heconsiders the effects of the policy and direct the competent authority of Hai Phong to explain the reason for the fees, andinclude an impact assessment.
If there is no reasonable explanation, VCCI proposes atransition time to apply the new regulations. The minimum time should be atleast six months to give enterprises sufficient time to prepare and avoid adverse effects.-VNA
VNA
