Mogadishu Port Remains Closed Over Tariff Dispute

Mogadishu Port remains closed for the second day running owing to a continuing business dispute between the port authority and local merchants over tariff regimes.

The latest row broke out after PGM, a Turkish firm contracted to inspect the quality of the imported commercial goods, imposed hefty tariffs on the local traders over and above the normal taxation.

According to one of the local businessmen, activity at the Mogadishu has ceased after local traders found it unacceptable to bow to the new PGM tariff demands.

PGM proposes to charge $100,000 levy on every other ship that docks on the port on top of the $70 tax per container.The traders further argued they could not afford to pay parallel authorities, including Albayrak, another Turkish company in charge of the port management.

The Somali government is yet to comment on the current dispute between the quality control company and the local business community, which could bring the daily operations of one the busiest Somali ports to standstill.