tonnage duty
- noun
- Formal
:
derecho de tonelaje
- The shipping company had to pay a substantial tonnage duty upon entering the American port.
Examples
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Several nations abolished the tonnage duty to encourage more international trade.
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Because their vessel was large, the crew faced higher tonnage duty charges.
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The government increased the tonnage duty for foreign vessels.
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Many shipping companies are unhappy with the new tonnage duties.
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The shipping company had to pay a substantial tonnage duty upon entering the American port.
-
Several nations abolished the tonnage duty to encourage more international trade.
-
Because their vessel was large, the crew faced higher tonnage duty charges.
Synonyms
1
7.0
A tax charged to ships entering a country based on their size
A tax on ships based on their size when they enter a country
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a tax based on a ship's tonnage' is directly derivable from combining 'tonnage' (the ship's carrying capacity/weight measure) with 'duty' (a tax or levy). Although somewhat technical and domain-specific, the noun+noun composition follows a transparent tax-naming pattern that a learner who knows both constituents can readily interpret.
Etymology
The term tonnage duty comes from old port taxes that were set by a ship's tonnage, or how much it can carry. Because bigger ships could carry more goods, they paid a larger 'duty', so the phrase means a tax that depends on the ship's size.