Container ports face handling charges

HA NOI — Viet Nam may have to implement a new terminal handling charge (THC) earlier than the nation’s exporters had hoped for, following the rejection of a call to delay the charge by the Intra-Asia Discussion Agreement (IADA)’s secretariat.
The IADA disagreed with Vietnamese exporters on a delay for the implementation of the new THC until January 1 of next year, said the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Hoang Van Dung.
The IADA has yet to accept proposed THC starting levels suggested by a Vietnamese council set up to negotiate the terms of the charge.
Dung said the TCH charge was proposed by the Vietnamese chamber to be US$20 per 20-foot container and $30 per 40-foot container, while the IADA has already introduced initial levels of $50 per 20-foot container and $75 per 40-foot container.
The charge to be collected in Viet Nam starting from the beginning of next year would be $60 per 20-foot container and $90 per 40-foot container, according to a recent letter from the IADA to the chamber, said Dung.
At a meeting between IADA and the Vietnamese council held last Thursday in Ha Noi, the two sides reached agreement on separating THC, the costs of loading and discharging containers at container ports, from transportation or freight charges.
An official from the IADA’s secretariat said the THC application in Viet Nam was aimed at creating a more transparent pricing structure for freight rates to and from Viet Nam as well as bringing the nation’s shipping business practices in line with norms applied in all other Asian countries.
The council, which included seven export associations representing the sectors of textiles and garments, leather and footwear, electronics, seafood, coffee and cocoa, cashews and tea, along with the Government Office, the Civil Maritime Administration and representatives from the chamber and ministries of Trade, Finance, and Transport, petitioned the IADA to postpone the THC collection until next year. The council argued that application should be delayed as annual contracts had already been signed and it took Vietnamese associations and enterprises some time to get used to carrying out collection effectively.
The council also noted that domestic firms should take the initiative in negotiations with foreign shipping companies, linked to the IADA, as they have started collecting THC charges. Local firms should also specify THC payment in contracts with foreign counterparts. — VNS