Gov’t agency stops 1,600% tariff adjustment for ports in Espirito Santo

After announcing a 1,600% readjustment in the tariff charged over the Vessel Traffic Information and Management System, Vports, the company responsible for the ports in Espirito Santo, was thwarted by the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) from applying it until May 17 – the date when the new charge will come into effect. The first privatized Port Authority in the country is seen as a parameter for the eventual privatization of the Santos Port Authority (SPA), which manages the Port of Santos.

In addition, the company stated that “it has complied with all contractual obligations, reaffirming its commitment to increasing the quality of services provided and lowering the cost of cargo handling. The new tariff structure was designed to save the users’ money by creating lower prices and faster and more efficient operations. It will go into effect on May 17, as Antaq has decided.”

However, Antaq, which regulates and supervises the tariff table of all Brazilian ports, suspended the application of the readjustment last Wednesday, in a preventive manner, until May 17. Until then, the company must explain the rationale behind “adjustments that increase port tariffs. Until such price variations are justified, the tariff table currently in force in said ports will be maintained.” The decision was “unanimously endorsed” by the Antaq board.

Under private management since September 2022, then-Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo (Codesa) could have readjusted the tariff table after six months, as stated in the concession contract signed with the then Ministry of Infrastructure of the Bolsonaro Government. In February of this year, already granted to the private sector, Codesa was renamed Vports.

The president of the Export and Import Trade Union of Espírito Santo (Sindiex), Sidemar Acosta, informed in a note that he has been following the debate on the new VTMIS tariff structure proposed by Vports for ships operating in the water of Espirito Santo.

He pondered that “after some with the company’s directors, we came to understand that the new tariff structure was established as early as when the concession contract was formulated, and it was designed to bring harmony between operations, generating cost savings for terminals and attracting cargo.”

On the last 17th, Vports announced that the VTMIS tariff would increase from R$ 1,103.50 to R$ 18,729.65 per access in the ports of Tubarão (Vale) and Praia Mole (ArcelorMittal, Usiminas, and Gerdau).

According to Vports, using VTMIS improves security by reducing the risk of accidents, drug trafficking, prostitution, and theft on ships waiting to dock at the Vitória port complex and the Port of Tubaro. “Vessels that access the organized port already have the service costs included in the direct use tables and will not need to pay the specific VTMIS tariff,” it emphasizes.

Source: A Tribuna

To read the original text, please access: https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/antaq-impede-reajuste-tarifario-de-1600-em-portos-do-espirito-santo

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