NEW DELHI: Customs authorites and shipping lines are butting heads over the cause of delays in a program meant to speed imports at India’s busiest port.
Customs authorities at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust worry that a lack of cooperation from shipping lines and their agents is hurting the direct port delivery services meant to lower cargo dwell times and congestion at India’s busiest container gateway.
“Many importers have complained that e-delivery orders and e-invoices are not being issued in advance despite their request for the same, and due to this reason, importers are facing undue hardship in taking the facility of direct port delivery,” Customs said in a public notice.
The agency issued strict instructions to all stakeholders to speed up the documentation process to ensure timely clearance of DPD shipments. “Noncompliance of the directions will be viewed seriously and action will be initiated.”
DPD essentially means import containers are delivered directly to pre-approved clients instead of waiting in a container freight station for customs clearance. Such containers must be removed within 48 hours of landing at the port, and if a shipper fails to meet that time frame, their cargo is shifted to a nearby off-site yard, and stored there, at a cost, for clearance under the normal customs procedure.
The Container Shipping Lines’ Association of India, or CSLA, refuted the charge of the customs authorities, and blamed importers and customs house agents for the delays.
“The importers/CHAs approach for delivery orders on an average four to five days after the IGM [import general manifest] is filed and about two days after the vessel berths,” CSLA said in a communique to the customs directorate.
The group also produced an analysis of recent IGM filings and shippers’ response in obtaining delivery orders to back its claims.
The spat comes as JNPT is holding a three-day public session in the harbor to woo more shippers to join the “ease of doing business” scheme.
The top port also said DPD transactions in the first eight fiscal months through November totaled 52,035 twenty-foot-equivalent units, a 15 percent increase year-over-year, with the number of approved clients reaching 60, from 11 in February when the DPD facility was simplified to gain wider shipper acceptance.
The strong emphasis on DPD services at major, or public, ports is part of a larger government scheme to reduce logistics costs. With JNPT loading more than half of the country’s total container trade passing through major ports, authorities are pushing the port to increase the share of DPD traffic to 40 percent of its total inbound volume, or about 25,000 TEUs per week.
