The government formed an interdisciplinary task force to address the problem of shortage of containers and high freight rates and after considerable stakeholder consultations has initiated coordinated action on identified tracks, says Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Som Parkash, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The action includes - Pressing additional shipping/container capacity into service through measures such as enhanced import of empty containers by shipping lines to the country, improved operational planning by facilitating close coordination between exporters and shipping lines, release of abandoned/detained/seized containers, increasing duty free stay of containers, freight discounts for empty repositioning by railways, transport and marketing assistance for select commodities, measures to improve the turnaround times of containers through tracking and monitoring of dwell times so as to effectively enhance availability of containers, seeking out possible ways to promote use of bulk/break-bulk movement by exporters as compared to containerised movement wherever feasible, etc.

Non petroleum exports are also higher by about 42% over last year and so there is a high demand for additional containers to meet the export target in various sectors.

The inter disciplinary task force consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Ports Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Railways, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA), etc.