According to Reuters, India plans to enhance its container shipping capacity by purchasing additional second-hand vessels.
This initiative comes in response to a decline in goods exports, which fell by 9.3% year-on-year in August, attributed to rising shipping costs, a slowdown in China, and recessionary trends in Europe and USA. Furthermore, attacks on the Red Sea shipping route since late 2023 have extended transit times as vessels are rerouted around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, leading to increased charter hire costs and delays at ports, Reuters reports.
As a response, the addition of new vessels is expected to reduce the time for exports and raise the container capacity by 10% to 12%, the shipping officials told Reuters. Minister Piyush Goyal added that he expected shipping and transportation costs for Indian exports to fall by a third soon.
To remind, in June, India announced another major shipping endeavor, aiming to establish a new shipping company to bolster its fleet by at least 1,000 ships within the next decade.
