Summary: Viral letter circulating on social media attributed to APM Terminals claims that there will be a 4% upward adjustment in port tariff beginning April 1, 2024. We have verified that the letter is authentic.
Social media on last week got flooded with a letter that is claimed to have been released by APM Terminals Liberia dated January 31, 2024 to its customers informing them of additional 4.93% tariff increment for clearing containers at the port.
APM Terminals Liberia commenced operations in Liberia in 2011 at the port of Monrovia on a 25-year concession agreement from the Government of Liberia. The concession agreement allows for a yearly increase in tariff.
The Claim
The letter states: “As per the Concession Agreement with the Government of Liberia, the prescribed 2024 tariff adjustment factor has been calculated by means of the predefined formula and that will have the effect of adjusting all current tariff lines will be adjusted by +4.93%. This adjustment is valid through and up till 31st January 2025”.
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, our fact-checking desk firstly reviewed the official Facebook page of APM Terminals but did not find any statement in relations to the increment of tariff.
To further authenticate the claim, we then contacted the head of commercial at APM Terminals, Thomas Moore via email who then confirmed the claim.
According to Moore, the formula for determining the adjustment is in accordance with the concession agreement the company has with the Government of Liberia.
Moore stated: “As you may already know, pursuant to the Government of Liberia Port reform initiative, it entered into a concession agreement with APM Terminals Liberia for the development and operation of the Freeport of Monrovia. Under the concession agreement (which is a law of the Republic of Liberia), there is a requirement for an inflationary adjustment to the public tariff in the Port. The formula for determining the adjustment is clearly defined within the concession law. The adjustment is effective on 1st February annually.
“In view of the ongoing transition in government and after consultation with various stakeholders, the decision was made to defer implementation of the applicable +4.93% tariff adjustment for 2024 to a later date – 1st April 2024 instead of 1st February 2024 to allow further consultation with the government”.
Our fact-checking desk also conducted multiple google searches and found articles published by APM Terminals in 2019 and 2022 , confirming the annual tariff adjustment in line with the concession agreement signed with the Government of Liberia in 2010.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted by our fact-checking desk, we conclude that the claim is correct. The letter circulating on social media was released by APM Terminals.