Indian Apparel exporters have approached the Government for waiver of demurrage on import and export shipments of the Apparel Exporting industry for the period starting 1 March 2020 till the time lockdown continues.
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), in a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, thanked him for waiving off 50% of demurrage charges on import shipments and requested for its extension till the lockdown continues.
Although the Council members were receiving their import shipments by air just prior to the loc-down, they were not receiving any documents in their banks or from the shipper, as the concerned institutions and courier services had stopped abruptly, the letter said.
“Our members could not clear the shipments on time because of lack of documents, therefore demurrage waiver may please be granted starting from 1 March 2020 till the time lockdown continues,” AEPC Chairman Dr A Sakthivel wrote in the letter.
Further, highlighting the rule that cargo has to be cleared within one day of lockdown closure, he said that the CHA/ Freight forwarders/ Consignees will face huge difficulty to clear the goods in one day, as it is “neither practical, nor possible”.
Even if the Apparel exporters get documents from the Bank, it takes some time to complete the formalities. In addition, Customs/ Terminal operators will face difficulty in clearance and delivery of the cargo lying in the terminal for so many days in just one day, he added.
“Therefore, it is reiterated that demurrage waiver be granted w.e.f. 1 March 2020 till the lockdown period continues,” Dr Sakthivel said.
Besides, he said there are a lot of export shipments lying at various Indian airports as all international flights have been stopped and the airlines are not ready to pay the huge demurrage to the terminal operator.
“The airlines want the agents/ shippers to take back their shipments after paying demurrage to the terminal operators. Therefore, demurrage waiver should be allowed to all export shipments as well,” he said.
Dr Sakthivel also flagged the issue that freighters and carriers continued to charge 4-5 times of the existing rates and this needed to be stopped immediately. He said it is an emergency-like situation and everyone has to contribute to ensure normalcy in International Trade and thereby to the economy.