Kolkata port suspends boxship calls
Shipping lines are up in arms after the port of Kolkata suspended all containership calls in an effort to clear the port of congestion.
Over 5,700 import containers have piled up inside the port awaiting clearance forcing Kolkata’s port management to close the terminal to container traffic as it attempts to clear the backlog.
Feeder line operators on the Singapore to Kolkata trade said the situation was now “so dreadful” lines had been informed the port was closed for exports until October 17. Containers are meanwhile also piling up in transhipment point of the port of Singapore.
At a recent meeting with the port, lines were told most of the port’s shoreside equipment was out of action and port officials admitted it had suffered a “total logistics failure”.
Lines also blamed a vacuum in senior management at the port, which has no chairman for several months. An industry source described it as quite a quite amazing situation for such a strategic port on the east coast of India to be in, and clearly detrimental to the port.
With a lack of improvement of conditions at the port feeder operators are now planning to introduce surcharges to help recoup costs from the delays.
“Feeder operators cannot continue to operate under such severe conditions,” said a spokesman for feeder lines on the Singapore – Kolkata trade.
“With prolonged delays at Kolkata resulting in increased costs, they cannot continue to absorb further losses and it will be inevitable for feeder operators and shipping lines to recover such increased costs from the trade,” he said.
Any rates action or surcharges will be implemented on an individual basis by lines, as shipping was not granted an exemption from anti-trust law under India’s Competition Act that came into force six months ago.
Over 5,700 import containers have piled up inside the port awaiting clearance forcing Kolkata’s port management to close the terminal to container traffic as it attempts to clear the backlog.
Feeder line operators on the Singapore to Kolkata trade said the situation was now “so dreadful” lines had been informed the port was closed for exports until October 17. Containers are meanwhile also piling up in transhipment point of the port of Singapore.
At a recent meeting with the port, lines were told most of the port’s shoreside equipment was out of action and port officials admitted it had suffered a “total logistics failure”.
Lines also blamed a vacuum in senior management at the port, which has no chairman for several months. An industry source described it as quite a quite amazing situation for such a strategic port on the east coast of India to be in, and clearly detrimental to the port.
With a lack of improvement of conditions at the port feeder operators are now planning to introduce surcharges to help recoup costs from the delays.
“Feeder operators cannot continue to operate under such severe conditions,” said a spokesman for feeder lines on the Singapore – Kolkata trade.
“With prolonged delays at Kolkata resulting in increased costs, they cannot continue to absorb further losses and it will be inevitable for feeder operators and shipping lines to recover such increased costs from the trade,” he said.
Any rates action or surcharges will be implemented on an individual basis by lines, as shipping was not granted an exemption from anti-trust law under India’s Competition Act that came into force six months ago.