Indian authorities have withdrawn the operating license from at least one shipping line after allegations that charges were being wrongfully applied to cargoes stranded at ports across the country, Fastmarkets has learnt.
On April 21, India's ministry of shipping (MoS)
ordered the cancellation of fees including penalty charges, demurrages and detention charges at all major ports and container freight stations (CFSs) until the end of India's Covid-19-related lockdown on May 3.
But since the order was published, there have been several reports of shipping firms and CFSs acting in defiance of the government guidelines and continuing to charge fees on stranded containers.
One medium-sized shipping line, headquartered in Chennai, has been stripped of its license to operate as a container agent at the Kolkata Dock System, pending further investigation, according to an email seen by Fastmarkets on Friday May 1.
In that email, the shipping line said that the removal of its license was due to "
prima facie evidence on charging detention [fees] by the line" in violation of an order from the MoS last week.
This appeared to be...