Investigation finds major irregularities in China’s ports

After an investigation that lasted two months, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) informed that numerous violations were reported in a number of China’s ports which now face many sanctions.

After the investigation, the ports of Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Ningbo Zhoushan must now reduce their container handling fees between 10 and 20 percent, from the beginning of 2018, sources report.

Furthermore, 39 other ports, amongst which are the ports of Huanghua, Tangshan,Rizha, Lianyungang and Weihai are ordered to perform self-inspection and rectify the irregularities found at other major ports, such as the monopoly of tally and the excessive fees for cargo.

As NDRC explained, these actions cause big problems because they increase the cost of real economy and make the competition smaller.

Moreover, NDRC found that the shipping companies were not given alternatives as far as the towage services are concerned, thus being deprived of their right to choose.

NDRC said that it will monitor the ports as they are conducting self-inspection and it ordered them to file operationaly reports to its anti-monopoly department, in order to make sure that irregularities like the above mentioned, will not happen in the future.