On June 24 in Venezuela will force a new regime of port charges
InforMARE , 10th June 2011
Concern of economic operators to increase that amount on average between 250% and 300% On 24 June in Venezuelan ports will come into force on the new system of port taxes defined by the decree number 8236 of the Presidency of the Republic, published in the "Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" last May 25. According to Elsa Gutiérrez Staples, president of Bolipuertos (Bolivariana de Puertos), the government agency which oversees port operations since 2009 when the ports of Venezuela were nationalized, "it was necessary to have a law regulating such notions and services taxes, before the process of reversal and recovery provided by the executive, were collected at rates stated in the private terminal operator in violation of humanitarian principles and moral ethics. " Elsa Gutiérrez Staples said Bolipuertos will take care of implementing the new law that will benefit the national economy. Different opinion of the representatives of economic operators in Venezuela, according to which the new law will lead to an unacceptable increase in the amount of port charges, for the field of cargo, will be between 250% and 300%, and direct impact and heavily on the cost structure of international maritime transport. The Chamber of Commerce of Puerto Cabello said that the new port charges together with the effect of devaluation will lead to a continuation of the inflationary spiral.