Inland Waters Shipping (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No. 26)

The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development has replaced the entire fee schedule for inland waters shipping — the regime covering Kariba, the Zambezi, Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe's other inland waters. The old schedule in the Inland Waters Shipping (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (No. 25), published in S.I. 73 of 2022, is repealed.

Registration is priced by length overall: US$70 for a vessel of 5 metres or less, US$100 for 5 to under 9 metres, US$150 for 9 to under 15 metres, US$200 for 15 to under 30 metres, and US$300 for 30 metres and over. A duplicate or amended certificate of registration is US$35.

Surveys are priced by tonnage. First survey of a vessel of 200 tonnes or more is US$200 with an annual survey at US$150; 100 to under 200 tonnes is US$120 first and US$100 annual; 50 to under 100 tonnes is US$100 and US$75. Smaller craft run from US$20 to US$75. A raft or canoe annual survey is US$21, and a canoe first and annual survey are both US$75. Dump barge surveys range from US$40 to US$100. A survey at an isolated or distant location at the owner's request costs US$100 for a vessel under 5 metres and US$120 above that.

Certificates of competency: a Masters Certificate is US$55 for theory and US$60 for practical testing (US$50 and US$55 restricted). Launchmaster's Class 1 is US$45 theory and US$50 practical; Class 2 is US$45 and US$35. A Fishing Vessel Master's Certificate is US$30 theory and US$35 practical, dropping to US$15 and US$30 restricted. Producing a certificate is US$15 and a duplicate US$20. Berthing on a government buoy is US$100 a week for vessels over 20 tonnes displacement and US$70 for 20 tonnes or less.

Shipping service permits are charged twice — once on application and again on issue. Application for a dinner cruise permit is US$200, a jet boat permit US$100, a raft or canoe permit US$50, an ordinary permit US$150, a provisional or temporary permit US$70, renewal or transfer US$100, amendment US$70, and exemption from holding a permit US$100. On issue the annual charges are much lower: US$70 for a dinner cruise, US$30 for a jet boat, US$20 for a raft or canoe, US$30 per vessel for an ordinary permit outside Victoria Falls, US$20 per canoe elsewhere than Victoria Falls, and US$30 for temporary permits, amendments, renewals, transfers and exemptions.

All fees are payable either in US dollars as given or in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate. Two things to note: the schedule is headed "Proposed USD user fee" even though it is the operative schedule as gazetted, and the survey item at 2(f) reads "annual survey of a vessel 50 tonnes but more than 100 tonnes", which is self-contradictory and appears to be a transposition of the 50-to-100 tonne band.