Naalakkersuisut wants more ports to introduce user charges

His argument is that it is not something you do elsewhere in Greenland, and it is unfair to the fishermen in Nuuk that only they should fork out to use the port when others do not.

Sikuki Habour A/S runs the port of Nuuk. Both the new port, inaugurated in 2017 and the old port.

Sikuki A/S is not a company that gets money through the Finance Act. It is driven by the user payments paid by fishermen, for example.

But all other ships and boats must also fork out to use the port. These are, for example, the tourist ships, trawlers and Royal Arctic Line’s transport ships.

But how much do fishermen and other vessels have to pay to use the port?

According to Sikuki Habour’s tariffs, you have to pay 38.64 kroner per tonne to unload seafood. And then there are various subscriptions that fishermen have to pay, depending on whether they use the municipal jetties or the quay at the port.

If you use the municipal boat bridges, the fishermen do not have to pay anything to Sikuki Harbour. But if the cutters are to have a seat at the quayside where they can stand, they must pay DKK 9,937 half-yearly.

User charges important for maintenance

Back to the politician Aslak Jensen (Social Democrats). At this stage, he has applied for leave from Inatsisartut because of a lawsuit, but that is a completely different story.

Before applying for leave, he had time to ask Naalakkersuisut about user charges for the port of Nuuk. He believes that because of the low entry prices of fish, the charges for using the port should be removed.

The entry prices for fish have been knocked down due to corona.

But Naalakkersuisut has no plans to drop user payments of the port. The payments are important to cover the costs Sikuki Nuuk Harbour A/S has for operation, maintenance and for the payment of services for loans taken out in order to build the new port, a written reply says.

Aslak Jensen also believes that it is discrimination that only the fishermen in Nuuk have to pay to use their port. This will probably be the case at Naalakkersuisut.

Naalakkersuisoq for infrastructure, Mariane Paviasen (IA), replies that Naalakkersuisut wants more SELF-owned ports to introduce user charges.

Naalakkersuisut is working on this basis to introduce user charges gradually in several cities, thus offsetting competition between ports and payment conditions for users across ports.

In the import of user charges, not only is discrimination expected to be addressed, but will also contribute to the provision of more funds for maintenance. Lack of maintenance affects not only the applications of ports but also their safety status, and the introduction of user charges is therefore a priority.

The original article can be found on the KNR news website