Abraham Thakran, the chairman of Kochi based Amalgam group , believes that the concept of Atmanirbharta have created an instability in the availability of containers for exports, as many restrictions are imposed on imports in order to promote self-reliance.
Also, the shortage of shipping containers because of self-reliance policy is pushing up the trade cost.
Government has decided to set up container manufacturing industry in the country and a meeting was also held to know if the idea of setting up the industry is feasible or not.
When it comes to sea food export several orders were canceled due to pandemic and many payments were delayed which leads to the difficulty of generating new orders, according to the industry officials there has been a 30% drop in the sea food exports till December 2020.
The sea food export is not the only problem but the drop in the number of ships calling at Indian ports and the shortage of containers led to an unavoidable increase in freight rates which is affecting export segment. The freight rates on several trade routes have gone up beyond 150-200% since March.
Another reason for the drop in the country’s business is the newfound policy of self-reliance which comes at a time when country’s trade is already moving under the pandemic.
Fact is, there is no recession from the increasing freight rates. so, exporters have had no option but to book the cargo at the extreme rate quoted by the shipping lines and give up their profit margins.
Sharad Kumar Saraf, president of FIEO, pity the absence of a domestic container shipping line. “We have proposed to the government to promote container shipping in the country with tax concessions and fiscal support,” says Saraf. Exporters suggest that even if one-third of the domestic container cargo goes to the proposed Indian shipping line, it will be a successful venture.
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