The Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) has been asked to charge bill of lading depending on the size of the consignment (cargo) instead of the current fixed charge procedure, which does not consider the size of shipment.
The call was made by the Shipping Manager of East African Commercial and Shipping Company, Peter Kirigini in his presentation during a meeting aimed at collecting views on the increase of local shipping charges by shipping agents held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
East African Commercial and Shipping and Mediterranean Shipping Companies are some of the shipping agents that have filed application seeking shipping charges to be increased.
According to Kirigini, shipping agents were subjected to pay USD40 in every shipment regardless of the size of the shipment.
``The procedure is outdated and a lot of government revenue is lost from uncharged shipment,`` he said, adding that a shipment of thousands of tonnes could have only three or even fewer lading bills.
Giving an example, Kirigini named one prominent businessman (name withheld) who always imports thousands of tonnes and sometimes hundreds of containers full of consumables but pay only one lading bill.
``Simple and comparative analysis shows that there is no equality. You can not fix the same charge for a consignment that weighs below one tonne with that of thousands of tonnes,`` said a dismayed Kirigini.
During the meeting, the following areas had their fees identified for review: delivery fees, amendment fee, bill of lading and inland container depot and consignment note fee.
It was proposed that amendment fees be increased from USD58 to 150 which is a 159 per cent increase and 50 per cent increase of bill of lading which is from USD40 to USD60.
It was proposed that inland container depots be fixed at USD 60 to cater for preparation of documents containing details of cargo.
Among others, reasons mentioned to have attributed to the filing of applications included increased costs to cater for information, security of documents, assets and offices, escalation of prices due to rise in inflation and costs for inland container depots.
According to Kirigini improved security for documents, would increase efficiency of the country�s transport corridors by attracting more customers from landlocked countries.
Speaking during the opening of the meeting, Chairman of Sumatra Board of Directors, Peter Bakilana said any decision would be based on the justification and magnitude of the requested increase and the impact of the increase to the final consumer price.
He said other criteria would be the impact on the route cost through Dar es Salaam port as against other competing routes of neighbouring ports as well as the spirit of making Tanzanian transport corridors cost effective in order to attract more cargo through the ports.
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