The Director General of Shipping, India’s statutory maritime authority, will hold a meeting with ship owners, cargo owners and charterers on Friday to discuss issues affecting vessel operations, particularly for Indian-flagged vessels or ships carrying Indian cargo, amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions.
Meanwhile, the customs department has assured freight forwarders that it will facilitate an early “back-to-town” process, allowing exporters to move their cargo back from ports to their premises or warehouses, the Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) said.
“The Indian exporters who had already processed shipments at ports across the country for the Middle East are stuck. They cannot find ships to carry those containers. Customs has readily agreed to facilitate the early return of these containers back to exporters’ premises or warehouses,” said Dushyant Mulani, Chairman of FFFAI.
Freight forwarders met officials from the customs department on Thursday to discuss the disruptions. According to them, shipments of perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, meat products and fish — which are exported daily from India to the Middle East — have come to a complete standstill.
Containers carrying such cargo are already loaded and cleared by customs but remain stuck at ports as ships bound for the region are unavailable. Exporters are therefore incurring detention and demurrage charges at port terminals, container freight stations and depots, besides container rental costs charged by shipping lines.
Freight forwarders said a faster back-to-town process would help exporters mitigate losses during the disruption.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has also issued instructions to all Chief Commissioners of Customs across the country to engage with stakeholders and address operational issues at ports and inland facilities.
Another concern raised by the industry relates to rising logistics costs during such disruptions. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), one of the world’s largest container shipping lines, has imposed an Emergency War Risk Surcharge (EWS) on shipments to several East African and Indian Ocean destinations, citing heightened geopolitical risks affecting maritime trade routes.
“Storage charges at terminals, demurrage levied by shipping lines and port-related charges can escalate quickly when cargo remains stationary due to circumstances beyond the exporter’s control. Trade bodies have therefore urged the government to issue appropriate advisories to port authorities, custodians and other service providers to consider waiving or rationalising such charges to prevent avoidable financial stress on exporters,” said Shankar Shinde, Managing Director of Global Express Multi Logistics.