The Chinese government is tackling port-related fee overcharging, in an effort to curb irregular charges reported in foreign trade.
Four Chinese companies were found to be excessively charging for port services and violated national rules on port fees, a statement of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
The companies were identified as Ningbo Dagang Pilotage, a subsidiary of Ningbo Port Group and the only pilotage company at Ningbo Port, Nantong Youbang Port Services, Taizhou Dingan Ocean Shipping Services, and Dandong Dehai Ship Services, which operates at the port of Ningbo, Nantong, Taizhou, and Dandong respectively.
Ningbo Dagang was revealed to have collected pilotages at rates that were higher than those set by national rules from January 2014 to July 2015.
Nantong Youbang and Taizhou Dingan were found to have been arbitrarily changing towage charges at various times between January 2014 and August 2015.
Dandong Dehai was discovered to have overcharged for rubbish dumping fees.
The four companies already received demands to refund the overcharged part of the port fees and been given administrative punishments, NDRC said.
The move by NDRC is intended to promote China’s exports and imports by reducing port-related fees, a senior executive at Ningbo Port Group told IHS Maritime.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.