Regarding the situation where foreign shipping lines are charging many types of fees and surcharges to Vietnamese import-export enterprises, The Vietnam Maritime Administration (VMA) has assigned maritime port authorities and branches authorities to examine freight rates and surcharges of shipping lines, avoiding situations where shipping lines violate competition laws.
Previously, the implementation of Circular No. 39 issued by the Ministry of Transport led to a 10% in the charges for loading and unloading services at seaports, causing several shipping lines to raise cargo handling surcharges at ports. In addition, foreign shipping lines are also collecting 10 other types of surcharges, including document surcharges, gasoline, container cleaning, low Sulphur surcharge, container imbalance charge, etc. However, the fee and these surcharges are decided by the shipping company without any agreement and VMA is concerned that there is a possibility of shipping companies intentionally exploiting global market fluctuations to increase service prices.
As a result, measures will be implemented to monitor and control this situation. Deputy Head of the Shipping and Maritime Services Department at VMA, said that the inspectorates will enforce prescribed penalties and issue directives to port authorities to strengthen inspections of price hikes by shipping lines. Also, It will work with relevant state management agencies, such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), to control the activities of shipping companies regarding freight rates and surcharges, ensuring transparent and publicly disclosed pricing.