Exporters flag concerns over shipping costs, scheme gaps

NEW DELHI: Indian exporters on Thursday flagged their concern over the charges being levied by shipping lines as well as gaps in the ECGC scheme announced by commerce department, while seeking measures to address concerns related to packaging material, which is in short supply.

At a meeting on the West Asia crisis with commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal and shipping secretary Vijay Kumar, exporters also complained about the shortage of bunker oil at ports, such as Paradip and Haldia and demanded adequate supplies.

Besides, they complained about shipping lines not passing on the benefits of lower charges or waivers in a transparent manner. A leading exporter said that shipping companies were seeking upfront payment and promising to adjust it later. "The benefit should be given upfront," said Fieo director general Ajai Sahay.

While DG Shipping sought to address this concern, exporters said govt has little control over foreign lines. On Wednesday, it instructed port authorities to ensure that concessions for Gulf-bound cargo passed on immediately and transparently.

"We were receiving complaints that terminal operators were not immediately passing on some concessions granted by port authorities, particularly relating to detention charges, ground rent, reefer plug-in charges and similar other charges to exporters. But they were giving that on reimbursement basis... It should not happen that they will charge the exporter and then subsequently say after one month or 15 days they will reimburse that. The relief should be immediate," said Mukesh Mangal, additional secretary in shipping ministry.

EEPC India chairman Pankaj Chadha said shipping lines were picking up Dubai-bound cargo from, say Kochi, and were returning to India and leaving it at another port, and were not responding to requests to bring it back to Kochi or bearing the transport cost.

Some exporters also flagged problems with ECGC scheme, announced by the commerce department, arguing that payments linked to bank realisation of export proceeds would result in the package proving to be a non-starter. Besides, they demanded that the benefit should be extended to goods going via ports in Egypt, Jordan and Sudan as well.

Packaging material woes

Apart from "artificial shortages" due to stockpiling, at another meeting called by Agrawal, AEPC secretary general Mithileshwar Thakur suggested that prices of plastic material have soared by up to 50%, while glass prices are 8-20% higher and suggested duty exemption for some of the packaging polymers, whose availability was hit due to the conflict in Iran.

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