Blockage costs exim biz dear

Visakhapatnam: The Suez Canal logjam, caused after a Panama-flagged container ship m.v. Ever Given ranaground on Tuesday, is giving tense moments to the trade and commerce in India.

Even as day and night salvage operation is on to refloat the giant ship managed by ShipmanagementCompany, several people connected with exports and imports through Suez Canal are keeping a tab on the progress to clear the blockade. Social media was abuzz that the giant ship was floated for sometime on Monday raising hopes that the deadlock would end soon.

The narrow man-made 193-km long canal connecting Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through Isthmus of Suez dividing Africa and Asia is projected to hit India's trade and restrict manufacturing supplies and increase freight cost of crude and other products for some time. The business to India through the busy passage is estimated at $200 billion per annum.

Ever Given, which had all Indiancrew was stuck in the canal, while heading from China to Netherlands. The accident reportedly caused after the hull deviated from the waterway under the impact of strong winds. The ship is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd.

All the crew were found safe. Shipping industry sources said over 300 ships were caught in the logjam for a week affecting the supply chain.

"The blockage has already led to increase in freight costs mainly for sourcing intermediates for pharma industry from the Europe," CII Andhra Pradesh chapter chairman D. Tirupati Raju told Buzz Buzz.

An estimated 12 per cent global trade is routed through Suez Canal. The delays and even diverting of ships to alternative routes will lead to lot of revenue losses to many.

Those involved in movement and trading of manufacturing supplies, oil, textiles, furniture and various raw materials through the shortest sea linkage between Asia and Europe are keeping their fingers crossed with the Suez Canal Authority declaring that they would restore normalcy soon.

"We are worried over the development as rice export and import of cashew to and from West Africa is severely affected due to Suez Canal crisis," MS Kumar, CFO of Kakinada-based Lotus Marine Services Pvt Ltd, said.

"The freight cost has already doubled for many commodities due to Suez Canal impasse and we hope the blockade will be cleared in next few days," Sudhir Mulagada, a food grain exporter said.

India imports four lakh barrels of crude, more than China, Singapore and South Korea through Suez Canal. Due to availability of enough reserves, the crisis may not lead to shortsupply.

"We also don't foresee immediate threat to supplies for other commodities as alternative routes are being chosen by the ship liners. The logjam will only cause delays in supply chain to a marginal extent," pointed out an official of Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd (a BOT operator of Visakhapatnam Port Trust).

G Sambasiva Rao, Managing Director of Sravan Shipping Services, said the logjam would not cause much impact on Indian trade and commerce.