With the government's bill on liberalisation of the pilotage market Denmark may fall out with a number of neighbouring countries and international cooperation partners since Denmark has committed itself to ensuring that foreign ships always pay the same price as Danish ships.
Bill on liberalisation of the pilotage service is in conflict with international treaty
With the government's bill on liberalisation of the pilotage market Denmark may fall out with a number of neighbouring countries and international cooperation partners since Denmark has committed itself to ensuring that foreign ships always pay the same price as Danish ships for using a pilot and Denmark may not impose any form of duty on foreign ships in connection with their passage through Danish waters.
The bill on liberalisation of the Danish pilotage market, which is currently being considered by the Danish parliament, may be in conflict with the so-called Oresund Treaty on several points.
The 157-year-old Treaty regarding replacement of the Sound and Belt Toll (Traktat ang. Afløsningen af Sund- og Belttolden) was concluded in 1857 in connection with the abolishment of the Oresund Toll where a number of seafaring nations and current cooperation partners paid sizeable compensation to Denmark..
With the conclusion of the treaty and the receipt of the compensation Denmark assumed a number of obligations. One of these is that Denmark must ensure that no foreign ship pays more than Danish ships for using a pilot when passing through Danish waters.
Læs også: DanPilot om forsvundet rapport: Den skulle ikke have været offentliggjort
Pilotage charges must be the same for all
The following is stated in the treaty, which is still in force: "that pilotage charges must be moderate, that one and the same rate must apply to Danish as well as foreign ships and that the afore-mentioned charge can only be collected from ships which have used a pilot voluntarily".
The whole idea of the government's proposal to expose the pilotage market to competition is, however, to establish lower but at the same time differentiated pilotage rates.
If a shipping company obtains a lower rate for its ships than another shipping company, for example in the form of a major customer agreement or discount agreement between a shipping company and a pilot service, it will be in conflict with the Oresund Treaty and thus a violation of Denmark's international obligations since there is no longer "one and the same rate" for all ships.
Læs hele den såkaldte "Øresundstraktat" på Retsinformation her (direkte link).
"Supply obligation contribution" is also in conflict with the treaty
When concluding the Oresund Treaty Denmark made a commitment to "abstain from collecting any toll, loading charges, light and lighthouse dues, buoy duty or any other ship or loading charges payable by ships passing through the Belts and the Sound on their way from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea or the opposite direction irrespective of whether they only sail through Danish waters or have to throw anchor or sail into port due to an incident at sea or merely for commercial transactions."
However, this is exactly what the bill proposes. In order for the state-owned pilot service DanPilot to be able to continue to fulfil its supply obligation for all Danish waters a so-called supply obligation contribution, which is included in all pilotage rates, must cover DanPilot's costs of fulfilling the supply obligation.
This means that foreign ships are in fact imposed a charge, which is in conflict with Denmark's international obligations
The countries with which Denmark has made a commitment include the United States, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Russia, France and many other countries which have ships sailing in Danish waters.
Læs også: Lovforslag om liberalisering af lodsvæsnet - få overblikket her.
Læs COWI-rapporten "Scenarieanalyse af den danske lodsservice" her.
The report was presented in May 2013.