UN maritime agency rejects Hormuz tolls

AFP | London

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The head of the UN’s maritime agency said yesterday there was “no legal basis” for imposing any fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

“There’s no legal basis for the introduction of any tax, any customs, or any fees for on straits for international navigation,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said at a press conference.

Speaking on the sidelines of an IMO maritime protection committee meeting, Dominguez said he was in contact with “all the countries of the region”, including Iran.

He firmly rejected the idea that reopening the waterway could involve payment of any fees.

Dominguez also said a planned evacuation operation for around 20,000 seafarers currently stranded on vessels in the Gulf could only go ahead once the strait was fully secure.

The shipping lane remains a key sticking point in negotiations between Washington and Tehran, even as a fragile April 8 ceasefire continues to hold.

Meanwhile, talks among IMO members this week are focused on a different issue: efforts to revive negotiations on an ambitious plan to decarbonise the global shipping industry.

That measure was due to be adopted last October, but the United States -- backed by Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other oil-producing countries -- blocked the agreement, delaying it by a year.