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THE
local shipping industry’s regu- latory body expects to
earn more revenue since it plans to impose cargo load
fees and other dues on vessels to improve its finances.
According to the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina),
the agency’s revenues will go up by 15 percent once
tonnage dues, which are fees charged depending on the
size of a ship, are collected from all operators.
The
Marina board, chaired by the Secretary of the Department
of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), is expected
to approve the imposition of the tonnage fees early this
month.
According to a Marina draft circular, the government is
set to collect an across-the-board tonnage fee of P25
per gross tonnage, or a minimum of P150 per ship. The
order, which was supposed to be approved last year,
would apply to all vessels, save for fishing vessels of
three gross tons and below, operators of which would
remit its taxes to its respective local government
units.
“Annual
tonnage fees shall be assessed on the total GT [gross
tonnage] as of the end of December of the year
immediately preceding the calendar year. A minimum
payment, however, must cover the tonnage fee for at
least one [1] ship,” the draft document said. “Issuance
of the applicable license or authority shall be issued
only [when] due payment of the tonnage fee and surcharge
is made.”
The
matrix of fees issued by
Marina
in 2005 prescribed varied fees depending on the type of
a vessel.
For its
part, the Commission on Audit, in its annual audit
report
last year, has asked
Marina
to seek other funding activities that would replace the
supervision fees, which was repealed by the Domestic
Shipping Development Act of 2004 or RA 9295.
Earlier,
Vicente Suazo Jr.,
Marina
administrator, admitted that the agency lost P38 million
a year when the supervision fees were no longer
collected.
For
2005, Marina posted total revenues of P203.54 million,
lower that P215.62 million posted the previous year. The
agency incurred losses of P37.17 million in 2005,
according to its audited financial statement.
Marina,
which generates funds of about P200 million a year,
relies on its annual budget from national government
allocations, which has to be passed by Congress. All its
revenues are remitted to the national government for
allocations to other agencies. |
