published: 01-02-2022
The port dues for inland navigation will rise by an average of 2.0% in 2021. This means that the increase will be below the expected inflation rate of 3.9%. This is apparent from Panteia's annual survey of port dues structures in the Netherlands. These data are used in the actualization of the cost structures of Dutch inland navigation and for cost price calculations. The data are also processed in the application 'Blue Wave Twente Canals'.
37 inland ports increase their rates
Panteia's inventory shows that 37 ports have increased their rates in 2022. On the other hand, four ports reduced their rates. Where tariffs were increased, this was done with an average of 7%. The ports of Meppel (+64%), Waspik (+25%), Waalwijk (+17%), Utrecht (+17%) and Harderwijk (+13%) noted the biggest increase. Also in the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal Zone, part of North Sea Port, port fees increased by 12%. For the ports that lowered the fees, this involved an average decrease of 10%. Most notable are the fact that port dues in Deventer decreased by almost 25% and the port dues in Tilburg decreased by 13%. A year earlier, Tilburg had seen a substantial increase.
The average harbour dues in the Netherlands in 2022 will be € 0.1378 per ton of carrying capacity. In 2021 this was slightly higher at € 0.1354 per ton of carrying capacity. There are large differences by inland port: the cheapest ports charge €0.05 per ton of carrying capacity or less, while the most expensive ports charge more than €0.20 per ton of carrying capacity. The most expensive inland ports in the Netherlands in 2022 are Eindhoven, Drachten, Weert, Breda, Harderwijk and Hardinxveld-Giessendam. The cheapest ports are Oudeschild, Gouda, Sneek and Schagen.
In total, turnover from inland port charges would be € 101.5 million in 2022, up from € 93.8 million a year earlier. This corresponds to an average of € 356.78 per trip. The actual turnover of inland ports is likely to be significantly lower, as many inland ports do not have sufficient visibility of ships arriving and departing. Digitization can help with this.
Knowledge of Panteia
Panteia has a database with port dues, underlying principles and possible discounts for clean (green award) vessels. With this database we can help inland ports to simplify their administrative processes, for example by digitalization supported by already existing tools - such as the Blue Wave Twente channels application. Panteia can also advise inland ports on simplifying and automating port visits with the associated pricing and the logistic consequences of this pricing. By linking with external sources we automatically collect all available data in a voyage file in order to automatically report the ship in the port. This enables us to offer insight into the number of port visits by ships that are liable to pay port dues and to benchmark whether your port dues revenues are in line with the potential revenues.