Ports : Extension of the payment term for harbour Antwerp to continue supporting the shipping lines
Alfaport Voka, Antwerp Port Authority and the Scheldt Left Bank Corporation (MLSO) in agreement
In order to continue supporting the shipping lines, barge operators and concessionaires at the port of Antwerp in these difficult circumstances, a further postponement of payment for domain concessions and for shipping and inland navigation dues will be granted.
The Antwerp port community asked for supporting measures to be taken in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Following consultation with Alfaport Voka, the Port Authority extended the payment term for shipping and inland navigation dues in April and – in consultation with MLSO – extended the payment term for concessions in June. Both the Port Authority and MLSO have decided to extend these measures (to the extent shown below).
The payment term for both shipping dues (normally 18 days) and for inland navigation dues (normally 30 days) will remain extended to 48 days. This postponement of payment applies to all vessels mooring up at the port of Antwerp from 1 September until 30 November 2020 inclusive. For shipping, this postponement will be applied to tonnage dues and berthing dues.
The payment term for concession invoices relating to Q4 2020 will be extended until 30 October 2020. In practical terms, for the quarterly invoices this means:
Invoices dated: end September 2020 – payment deadline: 30 October 2020
At the specific and motivated request of concessionaires, the Port Authority and MLSO can exceptionally switch to monthly invoices for Q4 2020. However, this exceptional measure can only be requested by concessionaires that have a fundamental turnover loss, traffic loss and/or cash flow problem specifically for Q3. This must be explicitly demonstrated in the request and in any case with figures (thus, the request must be adequately justified). Therefore, there is a less broad exception in this respect than for the invoices for Q3. Such request must be addressed to [email protected] by 18 September 2020 at the latest. In this exceptional case the following dates apply:
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