Big hike in Ctg port service tariffs on the cards

A high-powered government committee has proposed increasing the tariffs of different services at the Chittagong seaport by five to six times the existing rates set 30 years ago.
Officials said the government considered raising the tariffs as a strategy to increase the earnings of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and make up its increased expenditure.
The government had first constituted a high-powered committee of eight members to revise the tariff structure and later co-opted eight more members in the committee. The committee on updating the tariff rates sits today (Sunday) with the stakeholders concerned to exchange views on its proposal.
"We will sit tomorrow (Sunday) to review the tariff structure," its convener and joint secretary of the shipping ministry A S M Mamunur Rahman Khalili told the FE Saturday.   
He said the tariff rates were supposed to be revised every two years, but have not been possible due to different reasons. The rates remained unchanged since fixing last in 1986.
Mr Mamun added that the cost of the port has increased substantially, forcing the authorities to enhance the earnings for meeting up the expenditure.
"It'll not be wise to impose the tariffs at levels higher than other international ports," said Exporters' Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy.
"The tariff should be fixed at a rational level so that the local exporters remain competitive in the international market," he added.
The exporter urged the government to restructure the tariff rates through having consultations with all the port users and stakeholders concerned.
The committee considered that there are spaces to raise the rates as compared to other neighbouring international ports.
The present tariff rates of the Chittagong port are much lower than Kolkata, Mumbai and Karachi ports, according to a source.
The rates of only five out of 60 tariff items were revised in fiscal year 2007-08 and the rest remained unchanged so far, they said.
Meanwhile, five items have been removed from the existing tariff list due to their non-existence or lack of circulation while seven new items would likely to be included in the list in light of the realities, a high official of shipping ministry said.
The move has been initiated to update/re-fix/revise the port tariff structure after a long period of time since introduction of the existing structure, according to a source.
The existing tariff rates of Chittagong Seaport were introduced in 1986 and the rates of ICD (Inland Container Depot) in 1990.
An official pointed out that the inflation has gone up manifold since 1986 while substantially going up the expenditure of the CPA. As a result, the government is considering the tariff hike, he added.
In 2007-08, the tariff rates on storage in containers, including the five items, were increased. But, his time, the committee proposed not to change the tariff rates on storage in containers due to revised in 2017-08, according to shipping ministry sources. Officials said the port efficiency is improving day by day and would be improved further. It usually handles 140,000 containers on average with annual 1.7 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
In accordance with the committee proposal, 900 per cent tariff hike on top of 1986 base rates has been proposed on issuance of certificates (average) and charges on Lorries.
Besides, 454 per cent (average) tariff hike has been proposed on gear testing etc while 400 per cent on repair of packages, 398.96 per cent (average) on higher mechanical equipments and 366.66 per cent (average) on different charges.        
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