The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is once again warning freight forwarders not to impose charges not stipulated in the issuances and orders released by the now defunct Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB), saying violators face penalties under the law.
In a statement, DTI noted reports that certain freight forwarding companies have been collecting fees for new services or overcharging on freight forwarding rates.
According to DTI, additional fees not covered by PSB Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 01, Series of 2005 but supposedly collected nonetheless from shippers and importers include the following: emergency import surcharge, system charge, emergency bunker surcharge, e2m (electronic-to-mobile) fee, agency fee, deconsolidation fee, origin handling charge, container imbalance charge, emergency cost recovery surcharge, port congestion surcharge, and destination delivery charge.
DTI-Consumer Protection Group undersecretary Atty. Victorio Mario Dimagiba said these excessive freight forwarding charges result in high shipping costs that affect the export and import costs of Philippine products.
“Obviously, any upward adjustment in the freight forwarding charge will eventually be borne by the consumers,” he added.
Under MC 01-2005, the only standard charges that may be collected by freight forwarders are the less-than-container-load and terminal handling charge, documentation fee, handling fee, bill of lading, collect and turnover fee, currency adjustment factor, and value-added tax.
Last March, DTI issued MC No. 16-01 series of 2016 notifying all sea freight forwarders that all PSB-related issuances, such as MC No. 01-2005 and Administrative Order (AO) No. 06-2005, “shall remain valid and effective.”
READ: Old charges for PH freight forwarding services remain binding: DTI
The DTI advises shippers and importers to “only pay for said standard charges.” It added, “DTI-accredited sea freight forwarding companies, on the other hand, are enjoined to collect charges in accordance to PSB MC No. 1.”
Under PSB AO 06-2005, freight forwarding companies found to be overcharging and collecting unnecessary fees face a fine of up to P200,000, as well as the revocation of accreditation certificate on third offense.
A PortCalls source, however, said most charges mentioned by DTI are “reimbursable charges” that shipping lines or third parties charge freight forwarders for services rendered that, in turn, forwarders collect from clients.
The source noted these charges are not included in the 2005 MC because the order is outdated and needs revision to reflect current market forces. As an example, there was no e2m (a Bureau of Customs system) yet in 2005.
The source acknowledged though some forwarders do overcharge. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of iosphere at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
