ABANDONED/ UNCOLLECTED CARGO

Falling prices prompt Indian importers to abandon boxes

GLOBAL container shipping lines that operate businesses out of India are said to be losing more than INR500 million (US$10.2 million) each month as containers that have been imported to various ports nationwide are left uncollected.

Deepak Tewari, chairman of The Container Shipping Lines Association (India), was quoted as saying in a report by The Economic Times of India, "With the economic downturn, there are over 50,000 unclaimed containers in various ports; container freight stations (CFSs) and inland container depots (ICDs).

He said that most undelivered containers are in Delhi, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Kolkata and Kandla because importers are failing to claim cargo owing to falling prices over the past few months.

"We are losing money, as much as INR500 million a month which goes into paying the penalty charges," said Mr Tewari, who warns the situation, will grow worse in the near future.

The report added that the backlog of containers awaiting collection became particularly fierce one month ago, when congestion at inland container depots rose by 60 per cent in the past couple of weeks alone.

Action to be taken in these situations

NOTIFICATION

- Always as soon as you are aware that a container has been abandoned or there is a possibility of the container being abandoned, you must immediately or as soon possible inform HQ to alert insurance.

- Possible prejudice of cover by insurance if they are not informed sooner as there may be late notification.

- If insurance reject on these grounds, then we will have to bear ALL the costs by ourselves without any possible recovery

UNCLAIMED CARGO

- Most of the time in these cases, the incidental charges will be much higher than the claim amount.

- These charges will include storage charges/ demurrage / labour etc.

- You should always ascertain cargo value soonest for unclaimed cargo

- Always monitor with agents within (x) days (free store period) if consignee does/ does not collected the cargo.

- You must send written reminders to Consignee during this time to show that effort has been made to contact them.

- If cargo remains uncollected after free storage period, then should send them a FINAL reminder with deadline clearly stating that if they do not collect then it will be deemed to have abandoned the cargo by their non action.

- At the same time, you must seek Shippers urgent instruction on what he wants done with the cargo e.g. ship back, auction etc.

- Shipper should also be put on notice for any costs incurred in following their instructions

- If the consignee has gone bankrupt, then instructions must be sought from the shipper on if they will to abandoned the cargo and provide written confirmation.

- Always check with insurance prior to agreeing to auction off the cargo as we do not want to be liable for conversion at a later stage.

- As time is of the essence, you must act fast in these types of situations so that there will not be a backlog of uncollected cargo.

Disclaimer – Professional advice is not intended in this article. Case details summarized for general understanding only.