The Union Government has claimed that container shortage has been eased in the country.
Pawan Agarwal, Special Secretary, Logistics Division, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, informed that 58 per cent additional exports have been handled in March (Y-o-Y).
The Container Shipping Lines Association (India) (CSLA) also says that this was about 17-18 per cent more than the level of March 2019 (pre-Covid).
In a statement, Commerce Ministry said that Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) has also informed that due to coordinated efforts, the issue of shortage of containers has been almost sorted out.
It is pertinent to mention here that since last few months, India exporters were facing difficulties to get containers for their shipments.
The World Container Index (WCI) in March 2021 was 233 per cent higher than a year ago. Non-availability of space in vessels calling on Indian Ports and delayed availability of certain destinations, particularly in East Africa, were other issues affecting trade.
Congestion at major ports of the world due to COVID-19 and an acute imbalance between exports and imports in India were largely the factors responsible.
In recent months, a spurt in exports has been yet another reason. Following steps have been taken to ease the problems faced by exporters over the past few months:
In coordination with shipping lines, drive was taken to reposition empty containers in India on urgent basis. Consequently, 100,000 empty containers were repositioned on Indian ports from across the world by the shipping lines.
The Ministry also informed that by early March 2021, the waiting time for the availability of containers at ICDs and ports was down to a maximum of 2-3 days (booking date to container pick up date). At several terminals like Tughlaqabad, Dadri, Jaipur, etc. and terminals on Delhi-Panipat route, the figure is less than a day.
In order to improve availability of containers, India is also targeting to manufacture containers domestically. CONCOR has already issued an order of 2,000 containers to BHEL, and Braithwaite and Co. Ltd.
Discussions have been initiated with steel manufacturers for producing COR-TEN steel in India at competitive prices and with Railway wagon manufacturers/BHEL/Private manufacturers DCM-Hyundai, Balmer & Lawrie, etc. to set up production lines for indigenous manufacturing of containers.
