Many firms have proposed a postponement to the charging of infrastructure fees at ports in Ho Chi Minh City.
The city is planning to collect fees to use on infrastructure and public services at local ports from April 1.
For goods imported for re-export or deposited in bonded warehouses and for transit and transhipment goods, the fee is VND50,000 (USD2.20) per tonne for liquid and bulk cargo, VND2.2 million (USD96.50) for a 20-foot container, and VND4.4 million (USD193) for a 40ft container.For goods declared outside the city, the rates are VND30,000 (USD1.30), VND500,000 (USD21.90) and VND1 million (USD43.90).
For imports and exports declared in the city, the rates are VND15,000 (USD0.65), around VND250,000 (USD11) and VND500,000 (USD22).
Some business associations on March 3 signed a proposal to HCM City authorities, saying that the fees were too high and it was not the right time to introduce such fees.
According to the associations, most local firms had to stop operations or reduce capacity for a long time during the social distancing period for Covid-19 prevention in 2021. They have only just fully resumed operations since the beginning of 2022 but are facing various challenges including rising production and transportation costs and worker shortages. Now they will face more difficulties with the new fees.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said that over 70 percent of their export goods go through ports in HCM City. Logistics costs in Vietnam are now higher than that of many other countries in the region, which is affecting the competitiveness of local seafood companies.
Founder of Meet More Coffee, Nguyen Ngoc Luan, said that the rising material prices, transportation fees and the fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates following the war in Ukraine have badly affected all enterprises, especially export firms. The collection of infrastructure fees at Ho Chi Minh City ports would add to their difficulties.
“The fee of VND 250,000 per container is too high," he said. "Despite facing higher production and transportation costs, we can’t raise the prices of our products because most of the contracts were signed earlier. So we really hope that HCM authorities will not apply the fee collection at this time."
CEO of Phuc Sinh Company, Phan Minh Thong said that transportation fees have already increased four to fivefold at local seaports, and so these infrastructure fees would be an added burden.
"We export some 400 containers of agriculture products a month," Thong said. "We used to pay VND4 billion (USD173.913) for transportation costs but recently the fee has almost quadrupled following continual petrol prices hikes. Now the infrastructure fees will make it even more difficult for us and I'm afraid we could close our business."
Vice director of HCM City Transport Department, Bui Hoa An, said that they would firstly carry out the trial collection of fees for use of infrastructure and public services at 26 ports from April 1.
"The city expects to collect more than VND3 trillion (USD138 million) a year at ports," the official said. "The revenues will be used to develop roads near the ports to ease congestion and improve connectivity."