Arbitrary Weighing Fees at Ports Now Prohibited

PAGEV has resolved an important issue affecting all export-sector companies in Turkey. The Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications has addressed PAGEV's complaints regarding unjust weighing fees (VGM/DBA) imposed by port operators and agents, ending the dollar-based fee practice. Port operators can no longer collect additional fees under any name from exporters who have their own scales. Port operators can no longer apply arbitrary charges to exporters without their own scales, which previously reached up to 70 dollars per container; the maximum fee will now be 60 Turkish lira. This regulation will keep approximately TRY 200 million annually in the pockets of all export companies regardless of sector. Under the SOLAS Convention, all signatory countries are required to verify the gross weights of full containers being loaded onto vessels as certified by the shipper. In this context, full containers without verified gross weight information are not loaded onto ships. The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Maritime Affairs has issued a directive for the effective implementation of this SOLAS Rule in Turkey. However, port operators and agents have not complied with the directive and have been making arbitrary demands for unjust weighing fees (VGM/DBA) from exporters. According to the directive, no fee should be charged to exporters who determine the verified gross weight of containers using their own weighing equipment; however, some agents and line operators were charging 5 to 7 dollars per container under the guise of notification. Exporters using approximately 3.5 million containers annually were subject to an average deduction of 5 dollars, bringing the total collected from exporters to around TRY 60 million. Additionally, the regulation makes registration mandatory for all weighing service providers, and those not complying with the circular will be excluded from the system.