APM Pipavav reduces handling charges for empty containers by 25%

November 19, 2020: APM Terminals Pipavav has reduced the terminal handling charges for empty containers by 25 percent, effective for vessels sailing from November 16 to December 31, 2020, to help the exporters who are adversely impacted by the shortage of containers due to significant fall in imports.

According to the data from the ministry of commerce and industry, India’s exports during April-October 2020, fell by 19 percent to $150.14 billion; while imports declined 36.3 percent to $182.29 billion. The country faced a shortage of containers for exports as usually the containers that come in as imports are shipped out for exports. However, because of a significant fall in imports, shipping companies had cut capacity that impacted the availability of allied transportation systems like trucks and containers. This resulted in a shortage of empty containers hurting exporters as access to a container is now taking more than two-three weeks compared to a maximum of 4-5 days earlier.

Jakob Friis Sørensen, managing director, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “Looking at the trade cycle adversely affected by the shortage of containers, we decided to assist the trade through a reduction in handling charges of empty containers. I hope this will support exporters in getting easy access to empty containers and reduce the waiting period, thereby addressing the critical issue of container shortage.”

“With improvement seen in domestic trade, we believe the international trade too shall pick up from the first quarter of next calendar year, thereby decongesting traffic at Port and improving the overall trade sentiment,” Sørensen said.