Malé's North Harbour scraps five-day queue hold, limits vessels to one zone

Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) will change how vessels queue at Malé's North Harbour starting Tuesday, July 21, ending a rule that held boats in the queue for five days and barring vessels from registering in more than one zone at a time.

MPL announced the changes on Thursday, saying they aim to make queue management more efficient and give an easier experience to boat owners using the harbour, according to the company.

North Harbour is Malé's main commercial harbour, where vessels load and unload goods bound for the capital and outer islands. Boats queue in designated zones, A Zone, C Zone, and an Express Zone, to access berthing space along the quay wall.

Under the previous system, vessels registered in the A Zone or C Zone queue could be placed on a five-day "hold," during which they were not removed from the queue even if they had not yet berthed. MPL said this hold rule has now been fully abolished.

Vessels will still be able to postpone their turn under existing procedures, MPL said, but the automatic five-day hold no longer applies.

The second change bars a vessel from registering in more than one queue at the same time. Previously, boat owners could reportedly hold spots in multiple zones simultaneously. Going forward, a vessel choosing to queue in the A Zone, Express Zone, or C Zone may register in only one of those queues, according to MPL.

MPL defined a completed "trip" as the full cycle: being allotted space in the queue, berthing at the quay wall, loading or unloading cargo, paying quay wall fees, and departing. The company said vessels will no longer be able to register in multiple queues within a single trip.

MPL said the changes follow feedback and concerns raised by boat owners using North Harbour, and are intended to deliver a faster, more convenient system for vessels. The company said further adjustments based on boat owner input will continue going forward.

The announcement follows other recent changes at North Harbour, including new rules on vessel space allocation in the A Zone reported in March and the extension of electricity and water services to the A Zone.