The General Organisation of Sea Ports (GOP), which regulates Bahrain’s maritime growth, has approved its new tariff structure at its board meeting following discussions with stakeholders and the private sector over the last several months.

This decision comes in line with the efforts of the GOP to streamline all its charges for port and maritime services, including services provided at Mina Salman and to private jetties.

This follows the board's approval last year of the revised tariff for the Khalifa Bin Salman Port, which was implemented since September.

The board, chaired by Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa, took into account the circumstances and views of the stakeholders and the fact that the tariff structure had not been revised since more than two decades.

It also noted that the new tariff structure has been designed in such a way as to be competitive regionally, whilst at the same time covering the organisation's costs involved for providing maritime infrastructure and services that match high international standards.

The board instructed the management to implement the new tariff in stages between now and January.

The new tariff structure will be published shortly and the implementation stages will be announced in due course.

Another major decision taken at the meeting was the approval of the project for further dredging of Bahrain's approach channel to accommodate the newer generation vessels and to benefit the kingdom's major industries.

This follows the completion of Phase One of the project for dredging the approach channel last year.

Whilst giving its approval for Phase Two of the dredging project, the board instructed the management to expedite the required processes for moving forward expeditiously to ensure early completion of the project. – TradeArabia News Service