Mai said at apress conference held in Hanoi on April 8 that the inspections were aresult of the Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai's instructions torevise the collection of the maritime transport fees at foreign shippingfirms in Vietnam. The ministry would cooperate with the Ministries ofTransport and Industry and Trade, as well as other relevant agencies tomonitor the collection.
She said the ministry had promulgated adecision for reviewing the transport fee charged to foreign firms andwhether it was suitable or not. This would facilitate export businesses.
Tran Huy Truong, deputy head of the ministry's inspector, said they would contact foreign shipping firms in the inspection list.
Datafrom the Vietnam Maritime Department showed that of the more than 40foreign shipping firms operating in Vietnam, 88 percent were involved intransport activities for the country's exports. In addition, the firmstransported all goods in a container imported or exported from theEuropean Union and North America.
Truong said several Vietnamesebusinesses had to pay different kinds of fees as they very much dependedon foreign shipping firms.
In addition, the local businesses had not been active as they had not directly signed any transport contracts.-VNA