NEW DELHI: With West Asia-bound cargo ships stranded in India due to conflict in the region, shipping ministry on Friday directed all 12 major ports to consider requests for reduction, waiver or remission of charges, including for storage rent, reefer plugging and change of vessel.The ministry said ports may permit storage of cargo destined for West Asia as transshipment cargo during the affected period, allot additional storage area and facilitate movement of export cargo lying in ports back to the domestic market in co-ordination with customs. They have also been asked to provide priority handling for perishable cargo to prevent deterioration and facilitate additional bunkering capacity to meet potential demand.The directions came barely hours after shipping secretary Vijay Kumar chaired a virtual meeting with stakeholders, including ministries, shipping lines, oil PSUs, companies and exporters, who flagged the imminent possibility of congestion at ports and shortage of containers in the next two-to-three weeks. There was also a suggestion to allow more foreign-flagged vessels to transport domestic cargo to tide over shortage of ships and containers, amid rising freight costs.As per shipping ministry, there are 11 vessels at different Indian ports destined for Persian Gulf and another 35 Indian-flagged vessels in the region.DGFT informed the stakeholders that department of financial services was holding meetings with insurance firms, General Insurance Council and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India to address the issue of spike in insurance premiums. It also informed that RBI has held a meeting with Indian Bank Association and SBI and banks operating in the West Asia region have been asked to allow their staff to work from home to ensure shipping lines, exporters and importers don’t face problems.Kumar said port authorities have been directed not to put any additional charge.
