SAYING that Tinian actually gets “double charged” by the Commonwealth Ports Authority, the Tinian Chamber of Commerce is urging CPA to make necessary reevaluation of its wharfage fee and ensure fairness.
If possible, the Chamber wishes to have the wharfage fee abolished “to avoid double charging.”
CPA collects a minimum of $5.50 wharfage fee, which according to the Chamber is “unfair to Tinian businesses” since it is “700 percent higher” compared to the actual freight cost.
“This is blatantly unfair. The Chamber highly recommends that the minimum wharfage fee be adjusted to never be higher than the shipping fee,” Chamber President-elect Phillip M. Long said.
He said Tinian businesses are “double taxed” because items get charged at once upon arrival on Saipan.
“When it reaches Tinian, we’re charged again. There should be no more wharfage fee on Tinian,” he said.
In a letter to CPA, Long complained that CPA charges a minimum of $5.50 “regardless of what is being shipped or how much the item weighs.”
“Say a document pouch that weighs less than 1 pound costs only 80 cents freight cost—CPA charges $5.50. Does this seem fair?” Long said.
In a separate interview, CPA Chairman Roman Palacios said the wharfage rate was set based on the recommendation by the authorities, including loan bond members.
“It was the recommendation. Now, how can the port survive if we keep reducing the fees?” Palacios said.
He said a thorough study must be made first before any possible changes could be made.
“We’ve to be fair, too. The fee is uniform among all three ports—Saipan, Tinian and Rota,” he said.
Long said “an unprecedented 100 percent of the voting members” of the Chamber “felt that the fee was unfair to Tinian businesses.”
Long said the Chamber wants CPA to explain its method of wharfage measurement to determine an accurate fee.
“Chamber members are concerned that the calculations for CPA wharfage are simply guessed and are not accurately measured nor weighed. We request a written explanation as to the method CPA uses to measure wharfage,” Long said.
The Chamber also suggested that shipping companies be provided with necessary equipment to measure wharfage fee.
He said Tinian’s only inter-island shipping company has no scale to weigh items for shipment nor does it have a measurement scale or chart to verify volume.
“If there are no measurement capabilities at the shipper source, then how does CPA come up with the rate?” he said.
