Container shipping to and from Kolkata/Haldia is set to become more expensive as the feeder operators serving the port have decided to slap a winter season charge of $110-120 a TEU.
The levy, to be effective November 1, will apply to all shipments between Kolkata/Haldia and Singapore and Port Klang in Malaysia.
A TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, is the standard size of a container and is a common measure of capacity in the container business.
There are a dozen feeder operators serving the trade route between Kolkata/Haldia and Singapore/Port Klang. These include Bengal Tiger Line, X-press Container Line, Samudera Shipping, Advanced Container Line, Far Shipping, Hartman, PACC Container Line, CMA CGM, Mediterranean Shipping Co, Hub Line and OEL. These lines are all members of Singapore-based Calcutta Feeder Operators (Calfo), it is learnt.
The feeder operators serving the trade route to Colombo, too, are likely to announce a similar rise soon, according to shipping industry sources. “But then, the Colombo trade, served by eight feeder vessels, is by and large one-way trade, mostly exports,” said a source.
Several factors, including poor volumes, are believed to have forced the feeder operators’ hands. In the past six months, half a dozen feeder vessels have been withdrawn from the Kolkata/Haldia-Singapore/Port Klang sector, and, more might follow, according to a report doing the rounds in shipping circles.
The weakening of the rupee has also dealt a severe blow to the export-import trade.
Right now, 18 vessels are serving the sector. santanu.sanyal@thehindu.co.in