Several thousands of Indian goods laden containers, which were bound to Russia but stuck in various European and West Asian ports, are now returning back to India again failing to reach their destination and assuming bleak possibility that the western sanctions on Moscow will go soon.
Amid the situation, the Indian Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs is preparing a comprehensive standard operating procedure (SoP) to let the re-import containers enter the country.
According to Ajay Sahai, director-general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, the customs department is finding ways how to provide faster clearance to these re-imported boxes so that they do not create congestions at the port yards.
Around 3,000 such containers reportedly remain stranded in those ports failing to sail for Russia. Amid the situation, many exporters have been trying to bring back these boxes while some are trying to sell the containers to other destinations or send them by road.
However, exporters, whose billions of dollars worth goods remained stuck, are now facing huge charges as the ship operators are demanding demurrage and detention charges before the containers are re-loaded to the vessels towards India.
As the western nations imposed various political and economic sanctions on Russia following the Ukraine invasion, trade and financial transactions to and from Russia and other destinations had almost halted.
India, being a big ally of Russia has resumed shipment to Moscow using Georgian ports and two Russian banks are started facilitating payments in both Rupee-Ruble and Euro, as they are out of the purview of sanctions. In Mid-April, India sent dozens of containers full of rice, tea, coffee and seafood were shipped to Russia through ports in Georgia.
Many other Russian allies are sending containers to Moscow through the Chinese port of Quindao and from Turkish ports by road. Some exporters are also reportedly using Iran’s Chahbahar port via road from Azerbaijan to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
