Cargo Breaking News
The Chennai Port is facing a 25 per cent shortage of containers due to supply and demand gap sparking concern among exporters who now have to pay double rates to send consignments as the pandemic has triggered a worldwide shipping crisis.
Regional chairman of Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation Israr Ahmed told Express that the cost of sending a 40-feet container to the United States before Covid was $2,000. “Last year, it rose to $4,500 and now it is priced between $6,200 and $6500. Similarly, for Europe the cost was $1,100 to $1,200 earlier, and it has gone up to 5,500. The price hike is attributed to Covid that has left the global shipping lines with backlogs and delays due to labour shortage, reduced capacity of logistics systems, congestion at ports as well as quarantined cargo,” he added.
