# Shipping - tolls on waterways **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053 "2026-06-20T15:25:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/1 "2026-06-20T15:25:29Z")
Major canals (maybe partly man-made) throughout the world (e.g. Suez, Panama) charge tolls for ships passing through them. With the Straits of Hormuz in the news - are there any other natural bodies of water over which shipping tolls are charged? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/2 "2026-06-20T15:45:31Z")
I’m seeing cites that Turkey does not charge a toll for passage through the Bosporus, but I’m also seeing cites that they recently increased the fee to $5.83 per ton. I’m sure there’s some legal distinction between a “toll” and a “fee”, but I’m not sure what it is. I’m not seeing anything about any tolls or fees for the Strait of Gibraltar. Those are the two most obvious candidates I can think of, where a country controls a high-traffic natural chokepoint. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/3 "2026-06-20T15:50:00Z")
[Here’s an article](https://omareconomics.substack.com/p/the-illogicality-of-charging-tolls) that claims that Iran’s tolls don’t have precedent elsewhere: They do note that there are some places with fees, but those are for specific services, like icebreaking in some Russian-controlled waters, or navigational assistance in Turkey’s straits, not for passage itself (presumably, if you think you can handle those services yourself, you can forgo paying the fee). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/4 "2026-06-20T17:36:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Here’s an article](https://omareconomics.substack.com/p/the-illogicality-of-charging-tolls) that claims that Iran’s tolls don’t have precedent elsewhere: Right, especially being as Iran is not the only nation that has rights in that Strait. Mostly tools and fees are charged in places where the passage is partly artificial, to pay the maintenance on the canal etc. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/5 "2026-06-20T18:58:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Here’s an article](https://omareconomics.substack.com/p/the-illogicality-of-charging-tolls) that claims that Iran’s tolls don’t have precedent elsewhere To be clear, what matters (and why the law of the sea and customary international law would not countenance tolls) is not so much that the Strait of Hormuz is a natural feature, but that international waters are on either side of it. I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that, for example, there are tolls charged on strictly internal waterways (or, failing that, some kind of tax scheme). The Bosporus is a bit of an oddball because it is subject to a treaty that predates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/6 "2026-06-20T19:04:58Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > The Bosporus is a bit of an oddball because it is subject to a treaty that predates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. One of point where at least part of the reason for the construction of the [Istanbul Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Canal) is to have a passage that be subject to conventional management (by Turkiye). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/7 "2026-06-21T14:06:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m seeing cites that Turkey does not charge a toll for passage through the Bosporus, but I’m also seeing cites that they recently increased the fee to $5.83 per ton. I’m sure there’s some legal distinction between a “toll” and a “fee”, but I’m not sure what it is. The distinction is that Turkey is, under international law (the Montreux Convention of 1936), allowed to charge a fee for passage of the Bosporus, but the fee is only supposed to cover Turkey’s expenses for maintaining safe navigation there. Basically it can recover the costs of operating lighthouses and beacons, conduct sanitary inspections and provide SAR services, but not run a profit. I don’t know if there’s a mechanism to ensure that these fees are not excessive, but that’s a least the general idea behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/8 "2026-06-21T14:39:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > claims that Iran’s tolls don’t have precedent elsewhere The author emphasizes it doesn’t have precedent since 1945. But the [Sound Dues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Dues) was a thing in the [Danish Sound](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund) for centuries. It’s not unprecedented in history, it’s just hasn’t been a thing in the modern capitalist era. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shipping-tolls-on-waterways/1031053/9 "2026-06-21T20:13:02Z")
Many waterways and ports have a requirement for a pilot to be on board for certain stages of the passage. For example - [About St. Lawrence Pilotage Authority — St. Lawrence Pilotage](https://www.pilotagestlaurent.gc.ca/en/about) - is responsible for pilotage over various sectors of the St Lawrence River (for a fee).