New berthing procedures announced for vessels at North Harbour

Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has announced amendments to the rules governing the allocation of berthing spaces for vessels at Malé North Harbour.

According to MPL, the revised rules will take effect from 8:00 am on Saturday.

Under the new arrangement, vessels carrying goods or passengers may join any queue after departing the harbour and paying the required dues at the key wall of Malé North Harbour.

If a vessel does not approach the key wall within two hours after being called by the North Harbour office, or if the office cannot contact the vessel, the vessel will be placed on hold in the A-Zone and C-Zone queues. The next vessel in the queue will then be called to take the available space.

Vessels placed on hold may be added back to the queue by contacting the North Harbour office after the vessel enters the Greater Malé area. The vessel operator is responsible for requesting the removal of the hold.

Once a vessel is re-added to the A-Zone or C-Zone queue, the harbour office will contact the vessel when a space becomes available after two hours. If the vessel does not approach the berth or answer the call, the berth allocation will be postponed. Postponement may occur up to three times, and the vessel will be removed from the queue on the fourth occasion.

The express queue will not allow hold or postponement. When a berth becomes available in the express queue, vessels will have four hours to approach the key wall. Key wall charges will apply during that period. If the vessel fails to approach within four hours, it will be removed from the queue.

MPL stated that vessels in the A-Zone and C-Zone queues may remain on hold for a maximum of five days, or 120 hours. After that period, the vessel will be removed from the queue.

According to MPL, vessel operators are responsible for registering in the queue after departing Malé North Harbour and re-registering if the queue entry is cancelled.