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The fee rates for entering and leaving seaports have not changed for 18 years

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho has just asked specialized departments of maritime, waterways and railways to research and propose reductions in fees and charges in each area of responsibility, according to the Ministry of Finance's official dispatch on research. Proposal to reduce taxes, fees and charges in the transportation sector.

The Vietnam Maritime Administration has just issued a written report to the Ministry of Transport assessing the impact of reducing fees and charges. The document signed by the Acting Director of the Vietnam Maritime Administration Nguyen Dinh Viet clearly states: Vietnam's shipping enterprises mainly undertake the domestic shipping market share in the country and apply according to the schedule of fees and cargo fees. inland sea.

Specifically, according to Mr. Viet, currently, international shipping from Vietnamese seaports to foreign seaports and vice versa is mainly due to foreign shipping companies holding the majority of the market share.

Therefore, with the current regulations on collecting maritime fees and charges at seaports, the international maritime fee and fee collection schedule will have little impact on Vietnam's shipping businesses.

This agency also agreed with the view that "The current law on fees and charges does not stipulate fees for gasoline and oil. Therefore, current fees and charges are not factors influencing domestic fuel prices to increase" by the Ministry of Finance.

Specifically, for domestic maritime fees and charges, leaders of the Vietnam Maritime Administration said the rates are specified in Circular No. 261/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Finance and has not changed since then.

The fee rates for entering and leaving seaports have not changed in the past 18 years (from 2004 to 2022) and have not increased, while input costs that form the fee such as labor, electricity, water, and gasoline Oil, consumer price index... at the present time compared to 2004 have increased many times.

In fact, according to Mr. Viet, recently, to reduce difficulties for businesses affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the Vietnam Maritime Administration has advised the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance to issue Circular No. 74/2021/TT -BTC dated August 27, 2021, allows exemption or extension of time to reduce some maritime fees for ships in specific cases and has been supported and highly appreciated by Vietnamese maritime enterprises.

Exemption or reduction of fees and charges also has little impact on shipping costs

According to statistics from the Vietnam Maritime Administration, the current level of maritime fees and charges at Vietnamese seaports only accounts for about 7-9% of the total transportation cost of a ship operating internationally (with Inland maritime activities, this rate accounts for about 3-5%).

In the cost structure of shipping, fuel costs, labor costs, insurance costs (ship, crew, goods...) will account for the largest proportion.

“Therefore, considering reducing maritime fees and charges in general and fees for entering and leaving seaports in particular will have very little impact on shipping costs and costs and is not the main solution to solve the problem. remove difficulties for businesses, ensuring compensation for fuel price increases," said the leader of the Vietnam Maritime Administration.

In addition, according to the law, all fees for entering and leaving the seaport will be paid into the state budget with 100% annual revenue. According to data from maritime port authorities in 2021, the amount of fees collected from entering and leaving seaports from ships and inland waterway vehicles operating inland transport at Vietnam's seaports is 16.9 billion VND. , corresponding to 129,584 ships and 331,342 inland waterway vehicles. On average, the fee collected is 36,876 VND/boat trip.

Therefore, even if the government exempts the collection, each boat trip will save 36,876 VND/26,390 VND, equivalent to 1.4 liters of DO oil. This is an insignificant number compared to the entire train journey.

“The decision to waive or reduce the fee level to reduce the burden of another type of cost not related to this fee may not be consistent with the nature and concept of the fee payable being attached to the block. The quality and quantity of public services that beneficiaries are provided by state management agencies have been stipulated in the Law on Fees and Charges", Acting Director Nguyen Dinh Viet emphasized.