Importers plagued by new rule delaying goods transport

Importers plagued by new rule delaying goods transport

A new regulation tightening the condition for importers to transport their goods from seaports to their warehouses have financially hurt the businesses as the longer the imports are kept at ports, the greater overrun expenses they incur.

Starting this year, under Circular No.128/2013 released by the finance ministry, importers must obtain the quality certificates for their imported products in order to bring them out of the seaports.

Before this, they simply had to let authorities take samples of their goods for testing but didn’t have to wait for the test results.

The new regulation stipulates that importers must keep their goods at the ports’ warehouses while waiting for the test results, which are usually released 10 days later.

The problem is, they said, not all ports have warehouses, in which case the importers must keep the products on the vessels, which means extra docking fees and wages for the ship owners.

Tran Quang Phung, chairman of the Southern Salt Corp, said it is costing him hundreds of millions of dong every day as he is waiting for the certificate to transfer his import of 24,000 tons of salt out of Nha Rong – Khanh Hoi port in District 4.

The extra expenses include a US$5,000 fee to pay the cargo ship and cash fine for extending the transporting contract with the ship owner.

He added that the damages due to this regulation are countless.

“Production had to cease as there are no materials, while thousands of my workers face unemployment,” he said.

For importers whose goods arrive to Ho Chi Minh City via container ships, the losses are even bigger.

H., owner of a construction material importing company, said dozens of his container ships are docking dormant at the Tan Cang Cat Lai Port to wait for the test certificates.

“It takes us ten days to receive the papers, while I have to pay $10 per container on a daily basis,” he said.

Failing to get his imports out of the port also affects his production and “the possibility that we could be fined for late contract fulfillment is huge,” he lamented.

Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, chief of the city’s customs department, said the department has reported these complaints from importers to the finance ministry.

“We are waiting for the ministry’s response,” she said.

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