Rising piloting prices kills small ports
PORTS: Danish Maritime Safety Administration plans to raise prices on regional piloting with as much as 300 per cent. This will especially affect the small ports in peripheral areas of Denmark, which are in risk of closing down. Danish Ports fear this and are infuriated by the prospect of the dramatic price increase.
"It will close the small ports. Piloting will be too expensive and with the massive price increases, cargo transportation will move from sea to roads", says secretariat manager of Danish Ports Tom Elmer Christensen to Ritzau.
Danish Ports and Danish Shipowners' Association have notified Minister of Defence Soren Gade, who has to authorize the Maritime Safety Administration's new piloting prices. They hope that the minister can intervene.
However, vice CEO of Danish Maritime Safety Administration Francis Zachariae explains the increase by referring to the liberalisation of piloting in the piloting legislation, which means that prices can reflect actual costs.
"Danish Competition Authority has recommended that we make prices dependent on actual piloting costs. It is true that some services can increase up to 300 per cent. It will especially affect the small ports in the fjords such as the Limfjord. But the liberalisation also means that we move away from the Robin Hood arrangement, where the large ships payed the most and the small the least for piloting", says Francis Zachariae to Ritzau.
Source: maritimedanmark.dk
