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No deal yet in Mobil wharfage fees
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Posted on Sep 06 2005
The Commonwealth Ports Authority and Mobil Oil Mariana Islands Inc. have yet to reach an agreement on $6-million charge in back wharfage fees being collected from the oil firm.
CPA executive director Carlos Salas said yesterday that both parties failed to meet the Aug. 31 deadline that the ports authority had set for Mobil to agree to its settlement proposal.
CPA is hoping to finalize the deal by Sept. 30, 2005, he added.
“We’re almost there. We’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Mobil seems to be willing to work with us. We’d rather negotiate rather than go to court,” said Salas.
CPA and Mobil started negotiating after the ports authority found that Mobil had not been billed for wharfage fees for a seven-year period starting October 1997, when the Saipan Harbor Improvement Project was completed.
Mobil’s unbilled wharfage fees amounted to $6 million when CPA discovered the oversight last year. This amount includes charges from the Port of Saipan and the West Tinian Harbor, where Mobil maintains fuel facilities.
CPA charges a wharfage fee of $5.50 per revenue ton of goods passing through its ports.
