Indian Trade Faces Container Shortage Again

There is a shortage of equipment pressure at the ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra, the two main ports for containerised ocean trade in India. This shortage has led to a scarcity of 40ft hi-cube boxes, causing Mumbai-based forwarders to turn down bookings from regular customers. This scarcity is particularly acute at Mundra, where the equipment shortage is a major concern.

Following poor demand last year, major carriers have had a surplus of container inventory at major ports, hinterland locations, and inland container depots, with empty export movement outpacing inbound repositioning. The shortage of empty containers is expected to grow more severe as the Red Sea crisis extends into the coming months.

Carriers are not honouring NAC (named account) or contract rates, and carrier schedule reliability on networks out of India is significantly disrupted. Additionally, there have been reported glitches in India’s Customs’ gateway programme, ICEGATE, adding to cargo flow pressure. These challenges are threatening to stifle the recovery of India’s merchandise export trade, with high freight rates and surcharges prompting exporters to curtail shipping orders.

Source .