Administrative Resolution No. (9) of
2025
Regulating the Approval and
Disclosure of
Fees for Maritime Container Services
in the Emirate of Dubai[1]
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
The Chairman of the Ports, Customs, and
Free Zone Corporation,
After perusal of:
Law No. (1) of 2001 Establishing the Ports, Customs, and
Free Zone Corporation and its amendments;
Law No. (3) of 2023 Concerning the Dubai Maritime Authority;
Law No. (4) of 2023 Concerning the Dubai Ports Authority;
and
Law No. (26) of 2023 Concerning the Executive Council of the
Emirate of Dubai,
Does
hereby issue this Resolution.
The following words and expressions,
wherever mentioned in this Resolution, have the meaning indicated opposite each of them unless the
context implies otherwise:
|
The Emirate of Dubai. |
Emirate: |
|
The Dubai Maritime Authority. |
DMA: |
|
The Executive Director of the DMA. |
Executive Director: |
|
This includes, but is not limited
to, Ports, harbours, all types of public and private marinas, Dry Docks, Al
Jaddaf, all types of islands, maritime logistics services and operations,
Vessel building and maintenance facilities, maritime projects, and all
establishments conducting Maritime Activities. |
Maritime Sector: |
|
A natural or man-made Vessel
anchorage and berthing facility where necessary services are provided to
Vessels to prepare for or end their voyages. This includes the wharves,
buildings, harbours, and structures located in, on, or adjacent to water, as
well as the land required for the use of that facility. It also includes all
commercial Ports and other Ports used for loading and unloading goods and
transporting passengers in the Emirate, such as dry Ports, Port Facilities,
and container Handling Terminals, as well as the services and operations
related thereto. Ports include Port Rashid, Al Hamriya Port, and Jebel Ali
Port. |
Port: |
|
The locations designated by the
DMA for providing services related to Vessels, goods, and persons within
Ports or on the navigational passages leading thereto. |
Port Facilities: |
|
Any public or private entity
contracted by the Dubai Ports Authority for the management and operation of
Ports. |
Operator: |
|
An inland site in the Emirate,
other than Ports, designated by the Government for the handling of commercial
and industrial goods and containers, and for performing all Operations and
related activities. |
Handling Terminal: |
|
A company or any other body
corporate licensed under the legislation in force in the Emirate to provide Maritime Container Services in the Emirate. |
Establishment: |
|
This includes, but is not limited
to, the services provided in connection with containers, including the
loading, unloading, weighing, handling, carriage, packing, storage, lashing,
stowage, delivery, maintenance, and sealing of containers; and any other
services related to the issuance of bills of lading, customs clearance, and
the issuance of any other document connected with the delivery or exchange of
containers. |
Maritime Container Services: |
|
Any tariffs, charges, or other
amounts collected by an Establishment for the provision of Maritime Container Services to its
customers, excluding any tariffs, charges, or other amounts collected by a
Government Entity pursuant to the legislation in force in the Emirate. |
Fees: |
|
A digital platform designated by
the DMA for accessing the Maritime
Container Services, approving the
relevant Fees, and issuing Delivery Orders. |
Electronic System: |
|
An electronic document issued by
an Establishment based on which the Operator releases containers to the owner
or the owner’s legal representative at Ports or at any other location
designated by the DMA. |
Delivery Order: |
The provisions of this Resolution apply
to all Establishments providing Maritime Container Services within Ports and
Port Facilities.
This
Resolution aims to:
1.
create an investment-friendly
environment,
grounded in the principle of fair competition, for stimulating
the Maritime Sector in the Emirate;
2.
curb the harmful practices that are
detrimental to the Maritime Sector in the Emirate; and
3.
establish an integrated system for
charging and collecting Fees from the customers of Establishments, ensuring
fairness and transparency.
No Establishment may collect Fees from its
customers in return for providing Maritime Container Services without first
having such Fees approved by the DMA and disclosed in accordance with the
provisions of this Resolution.
Fees will be approved by the DMA
subject to the following requirements and procedures:
1.
An
application
for the approval of Fees must be submitted by an Establishment to the DMA
through the Electronic System, using the form prescribed by the DMA for this
purpose, and must be accompanied by the following supporting documents:
a. a copy
of the valid commercial licence of the Establishment;
b. a
detailed description of the Maritime Container Services to be provided by the
Establishment;
c. a
list of the Fees to be approved by the DMA, specifying the reasons and
justifications for charging each Fee; and
d. any
other details or documents required by the DMA.
2.
The
DMA will consider the Fee approval application in accordance with the relevant
rules adopted by the DMA.
3.
The
DMA will issue a decision approving the Fees within thirty (30) days from the
date on which the application is submitted, unless the DMA has valid justifications
for extending this time frame.
4.
The
DMA’s decision approving the Fees must specify the amount of each Fee to be
collected from the Establishment’s customers in return for each Maritime Container
Service it is authorised to provide.
a. The DMA may reject an application
for approval of the Fees, or for amending any of the existing Fees, in any of
the following cases:
1. where
the Establishment uses acronyms, codes, or service names for Maritime Container
Services that are inconsistent with those submitted to the DMA;
2. where
the Establishment breaches any of its obligations under this Resolution,
including by charging Fees in excess of those approved by the DMA;
3. where
the Establishment breaches the rules prescribed by the DMA for the provision of
any of the Maritime Container Services; or
4. where
the application lacks sufficient justifications for charging or increasing the
Fees.
b. The DMA must notify the
Establishment of the decision rejecting its application within three (3)
working days from the date of its issuance.
c. An Establishment may reapply for the
approval or amendment of Fees upon taking the corrective action in accordance
with the conditions and requirements stipulated in Article (5) of this
Resolution.
a.
An
Establishment must:
1.
notify the DMA before providing Maritime
Container Services to its customers or before amending any such services;
2.
obtain the DMA's approval before
charging or amending any Fees;
3.
disclose the Fees approved by the
DMA on the Electronic System and through the Establishment’s digital channels;
4.
provide its customers, upon their
request, with the DMA's decision approving the Fees;
5.
inform its customers of any amounts
payable to third parties and of the grounds for such payments, including any
government charges, if any, collected under the legislation in force in the
Emirate in respect of any of the Maritime Container Services provided by the
Establishment;
6.
use only the acronyms, codes, or
service names approved by the DMA for Maritime Container Services;
7.
refrain from any act which may result
in an increase in the Fees approved by the DMA;
8.
not conclude any agreements, make
any decisions, or engage in any negotiations intended to circumvent or alter
the Fees approved by the DMA;
9.
provide the DMA with the information
and data it requires within the time frames it prescribes;
10. fully
cooperate with the employees or authorised representatives of the DMA and
ensure that their work is not obstructed; and
11. fulfil
any other obligations prescribed under the relevant resolution issued by the
Executive Director.
b.
An
Establishment may, under the contracts it concludes with certain
customers, grant them preferential rates or discounts on the Fees approved by
the DMA.
a.
An
Operator
will undertake collection of the container handling Fees and truck loading and
unloading charges approved by the Dubai Ports Authority, and will issue
invoices for such Fees and charges to its customers.
b.
The
Fees and charges referred to in paragraph (a) of this
Article will be paid to the Operator either directly or through the Electronic
System.
c.
The
provisions of paragraph (a) of this Article will not prejudice the Operator's
right to recover from any Establishment or its customers any other Fees or
tariffs, including the costs associated with containers abandoned within Ports,
Port Facilities, or Handling Terminals.
a.
An
Operator
may not carry out any maritime container delivery operations unless an
Establishment or its customers have obtained a Delivery Order and settled the charges
incurred in its issuance, in accordance with the relevant rules approved by the
DMA.
b.
An
Establishment must issue all invoices related to a Delivery Order and collect
the payable amounts through the Electronic System. The Establishment may not
charge its customers any additional Fees, tariffs, or amounts once the Delivery
Order has been issued.
The DMA may use any data or information,
relating to the implementation of the provisions of this
Resolution, that is obtained from Establishments or their customers for
research or statistical purposes, or for the preparation of studies and
benchmarking, provided that the DMA takes all necessary measures to protect the
trade secrets of such Establishments and to maintain the confidentiality of any
data that is legally protected under the legislation in force in the Emirate.
An Establishment that violates the
provisions of this Resolution will be subject to the administrative penalties prescribed by the relevant
resolution issued by the Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate.
The Executive Director will issue the
resolutions required for the implementation of the provisions of this
Resolution.
Any provision in any other
administrative resolution is hereby repealed to the extent that it conflicts
with the provisions of this Resolution.
This Resolution will be published in
the Official Gazette and will come into force on the day on which it is
published.
Sultan Ahmed bin
Sulayem
Chairman of the Ports, Customs, and Free Zone Corporation
Issued in
Dubai on 22 December 2025
Corresponding
to 2 Rajab 1447 A.H.
©2026 The Supreme Legislation Committee in the
Emirate of Dubai
[1]Every effort has been made to produce an
accurate and complete English version of this legislation. However, for the
purpose of its interpretation and application, reference must be made to the
original Arabic text. In case of conflict, the Arabic text will prevail.