On 21 April, the Indian Government’s Ministry of Shipping addressed an official letter to “all major ports” ordering the remission of various charges to port users, including storage charges, lease rentals, penalties, and offering additional land for storage at no charge. However, some of these instructions do not seem to apply to the Mumbai Port Trust and the Mormugao Port Trust. It remains to be seen how port authorities will implement these measures.
BIR welcomes the Ministry’s initiative as a positive sign that the recycling industry’s voice is being taken into account. Supported by its Indian member associations MRAI and IICA, as well as ISRI, EuRIC and BMR, BIR had officially addressed several letters to the Government of India, the shipping lines and the port authorities, requesting that costs that hardly harm our members be waived (see news dated 7 April 2020).
BIR continues to closely monitor the consequences of the lock-down measures in India and in particular the situation in the shutdown ports with regards to demurrage and detention fees.
