The Government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to address the problem of shortage of containers and high freight rates. The efforts are spearheaded by an inter disciplinary task force consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Ports Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Railways, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and stakeholders like the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA), etc. The task force after considerable stakeholder consultations, has initiated coordinated action on identified tracks. This includes pressing additional shipping/container capacity into service  through measures such as enhanced import of empty containers by shipping lines to the country, improved operational planning by facilitating close coordination between exporters and shipping lines,  release of abandoned/detained/seized containers, increasing duty free stay of containers, freight discounts for empty repositioning by Railways,  transport and marketing assistance for select commodities, measures to improve the turnaround times of containers through tracking and monitoring of dwell times so as to effectively enhance availability of containers, seeking out possible ways to promote use of bulk/break-bulk movement by exporters as compared to containerised movement wherever feasible, etc.

In line with the ambitious export target set by the government, the total merchandise exports during the period April – November 2021 increased to USD 263.57 Billion registering an increase of about 51% over 2020.  Non petroleum exports are also higher by about 42% over last year, and so there is a high demand for additional containers to meet the export target in various sectors.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Container shortage mitigation measures including task force coordination and operational reforms announced to increase container availability. Government instituted an inter-disciplinary task force of ministries, CBIC and industry stakeholders to increase container supply and logistics efficiency through measures such as enhanced import of empty containers, improved coordination between exporters and shipping lines, release of abandoned/detained/seized containers, and increased duty-free stay, together with rail freight discounts for empty repositioning, dwell-time monitoring, and promotion of bulk/break-bulk movements to support higher export volumes.