An inter-ministerial meeting was held in New Delhi today under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal to address rising freight cost, shipping delays, shortage & non-availability of containers and congestion at the ports leading to difficulties being faced by exporters and adverse impact on the trade.
Addressing the meeting, Shri Goyal said that the decisions taken by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Ministry of Railways in the meeting will result in significantly breaking down shipping costs, improving availability of containers, resolving empty containers issue, faster evacuation of export consignments and reducing congestion at the ports.
The Union Minister announced that Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has decided to allow empty containers to be stored for a period of 90 days in the yard at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) free of cost and has also slashed the loading and handling charges significantly.
Chairman and CEO, Railway Board, Shri Satish Kumar announced that the charges of Rs 3000 that is being levied beyond 90 days, is now reduced to Rs. 1500. Further, the storage and handling rates will be reduced for containers from Rs 9000 to Rs. 2000 (for a 40 ft container) and from Rs 6000 to Rs. 1000 (for a 20 ft container).
Commerce and Industry Minister urged all stakeholders to make concerted efforts to significantly mitigate the difficulties and address the issues faced by the exporters, effectively deploy multi-disciplinary capabilities and adopt ‘whole of the government’ approach to ensure that no logistic difficulty is faced by the exporters. Due to the current geopolitical tensions, Red Sea Crisis,Houthi operations, ongoing wars and its impact on international trade there was a need to engage with a multidisciplinary team, he said.
