Panama Canal considers on-deck $40-per-TEU fee

Panama Canal considers on-deck $40-per-TEU fee    The Panama Canal Authority is considering the implementation of a new fee for container carriers transiting the canal.
   The canal plans to revise its method of charging for containers by measuring the total number of on-deck containers that a vessel can carry, unlike the current practice which a portion of the on-deck container capacity is included in the vessel’s Panama Canal net tonnage measure. The charge is now limited to about 8 percent of the vessel’s total on-deck container carrying capacity.
   The revised structure would introduce a new fee separate from tonnage, which would be based on a per-TEU charge for containers carried on deck. The canal estimates the new fee to be about $40 per TEU.
   “To avoid double counting, the canal rules of admeasurements would be adjusted so as not to include the on-deck portion in the PC/UMS net tonnage formula that is in effect today,” said Panama Canal administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta in a recent letter to industry groups.
   The proposed new billing structure would include three parts:
   * A revised and reduced Panama Canal tonnage measure multiplied by the appropriate toll rates.
   * An on-deck per-TEU fee based on the vessel’s capacity to carry standard sized TEUs above deck multiplied by $40.
   * Fees for other marine services, such as tugs, line-handling, security, locomotives, and bookings.
   “The canal expects to make the formal proposal within the next 90 days and is contemplating a possible implementation date in the first quarter of the year 2005,” Zubieta said.
   The Panama Canal first implemented fees for on-deck containerized cargo on July 1, 1997.