The National Agency for Water Transportation (ANTAQ) recently submitted to public hearing a proposal for the rules granting authorisation for legal entities to operate in deep sea, cabotage, maritime support and port support navigation.
The matter is currently regulated by Resolution 843 of August 14 2007, which was amended by Resolution 879 of September 26 2007.
The new proposal amends several aspects of the resolution currently in effect. Under the new proposal:
- the transfer of ownership of the granted authorisation will be forbidden;
- authorisation for the type of navigation required may be requested for a vessel that is undergoing renovation, but any authorisation granted on the basis of such vessel will not give the grantee the right to charter;
- the required owner's equity levels for maritime support and port support regimes will be R2.5 million and R1.25 million, respectively; and
- the required owner's equity levels will be waived in the following situations:
- for cabotage navigation, exclusively for vessels under 5,000 gross deadweight tonnage;
- for port support or maritime support navigation, exclusively for vessels with up to 2,000 horsepower; and
- for legal entities classified as micro companies or small companies, as defined in the National Micro and Small Business Rules.
The period for contributions ended on August 8 2011. Once the agency has analysed the contributions received, it will issue the new resolution.
For further information on this topic please contact Godofredo Mendes Vianna at Law Offices Carl Kincaid by telephone (+55 21 2276 6200), fax (+55 21 2253 4259) or email ([email protected]).