Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has revealed its pilotage fees will be reduced from December 15 onwards.
Speaking at a press conference held to reduce the pilotage fee, the CEO of MPL Shahid Ali said the change was made to the pilotage fee after reviewing the prices being charged at ports in other neighbouring countries. He said the pilotage tariffs are almost as equivalent to Sri Lanka, while the charges are a little less compared to Mauritius and Seychelles and the tariffs are much lower compared to some ports in India.
Following the decision, the pilotage fees of vessels and passenger lines arriving at Male’ Commercial Port have been reduced by an average of 50%. Pilotage fees for very large crude carriers have also been reduced by up to 20%. Meanwhile, the price of tug leasing has also been reduced by 30% to 50%.
Pilotage fees are charged for ship guidance, anchoring, and unanchoring, as well as docking and undocking. MPL said the tariff rates for pilotage fees are allocated based on the tonnage of the vessel.
The pilotage fees charged for marine and pilotage services provided by MPL were last changed on December 1, 2019.