Thousands of tons of goods stuck at Nghi Son port due to increased fees

Thousands of tons of goods from many transport companies are stuck at Nghi Son deep-water port (Thanh Hoa). The reason is that the port management unit is demanding too high a transit fee.

From the afternoon of October 16 to the morning of October 17, at Nghi Son deep-water port (Thanh Hoa), thousands of tons of goods from many transport companies were stuck due to disagreements on transit fares between the port management unit and the companies. Among the thousands of tons of goods lying around waiting in front of Nghi Son port gate, there were nearly 2,000 tons of cement from Hop Luc Joint Stock Company waiting to be loaded onto a ship to Quy Nhon.



The cause of the above incident was that the Nghi Son port management unit, PTSC Thanh Hoa Petroleum Services Port Joint Stock Company (PTSC Thanh Hoa), suddenly increased the transit fee from VND33,800 to VND45,000 per ton.

On the contrary, transport businesses said that in less than 10 months, Nghi Son port has increased fees three times, the highest increase in the Vietnamese seaport system, which is unreasonable and causes businesses to suffer losses.

Mr. Nguyen Van De, Chairman of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises of Thanh Hoa province, said that the above increase is too high for transport enterprises to accept. Because according to the contract signed between enterprises and PTSC Thanh Hoa on the transit of goods through Nghi Son port, the term is until December 31, 2012, so the fee cannot be arbitrarily increased.

“Currently, cement factories are having to implement policies to stimulate demand, promote and reduce prices because this product is in stock while construction projects across the country are facing many difficulties due to the economic recession worldwide. However, the unit that owns and manages Nghi Son port suddenly increased the fee at this time, causing many transport businesses to fall into a situation of losses and compounding difficulties,” Mr. De said indignantly.

According to Mr. De, the unreasonable actions of Nghi Son port violated the terms of the economic contract. If there was a fee increase, the port should have calculated it reasonably and applied it at the appropriate time, not suddenly increasing the price.

As of the afternoon of October 17, there were still dozens of tractor-trailers carrying thousands of tons of cement lined up near the Nghi Son port gate waiting to unload.

Faced with the above situation, late in the afternoon of the same day, PTSC Thanh Hoa Company had a meeting with representatives of businesses to find a way to resolve the problem. The businesses suggested that PTSC Thanh Hoa should not increase the toll price at this time. Because there are only more than two months left from now until the end of the year, the amount of goods passing through the port is not much. If there is to be an adjustment in the toll price, it should be negotiated when the 2012 contract expires.

After listening to the opinions of business representatives, the port management unit "gave in" and affirmed to respect the principles signed in the contract earlier this year.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of PTSC Thanh Hoa, Mr. Nguyen Tat Hoa concluded, regretting the above situation, and affirmed that there will be no increase in transit fees from now until the end of the year to share the difficulties with businesses.

“In December 2012, PTSC Thanh Hoa and businesses will sit down to negotiate the fee increase in 2013 based on the reference fee prices of the seaport system nationwide to compare and come up with the most reasonable increase,” said Mr. Hoa.
On the evening of October 17, Nghi Son port opened its gates and arranged personnel to load goods onto ships.

According to VnExpress – HV