Our main objective is to reduce the cost and time in trade !

The nearly two-and-a-half month long border-blockade by Tarai-based political parties has severely affected the trade sector. Shortage of fuel and other daily essentials has had an adverse impact on economic activities in the country. The Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, which oversees the Inland Clearance Depots in Nepal, has been playing an effective role to waive the demurrage charges levied by shipping liners, Kolkata Port Trust and ICD management companies in Nepal citing the unfavourable situation in the country. Pushpa Raj Acharya of The Himalayan Times spoke to Laxman Bahadur Basnet, Executive Director of NITDB to know more about their efforts to minimise the hassles being faced by the traders due to the Tarai protest.

As Nepal-bound cargo have been stuck for long at Kolkata port and Nepal-India border points due to the border-blockade, imports are for sure to be costlier due to high demurrage charges being borne by importers. What has Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board (NITDB) been doing to minimise the additional costs to safeguard consumers because traders ultimately pass on additional costs to consumers?

Our main objective is to reduce the cost and time in trade in an effective manner to expand the volume of trade for sustainable economic growth. From the very beginning we have identified that we can be more economical and competitive by minimising the demurrage charges that Nepali importers are having to pay since long. At normal times also our traders are compelled to pay demurrage and detention charges of over one billion rupees annually to shipping liners, Kolkata port and container freight stations. Since assuming office a year back, I have been doing my best to minimise the additional costs that have been hindering us from being competitive. Some three months back, I travelled to Kolkata and organised a meeting with shipping liners and Kolkata Port Trust with support of Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata. After the meeting, shipping liners agreed to extend the grace period for containers of Nepal-bound cargo from 14 days to 21 days. Recently, we also requested shipping liners through the Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata to extend the turnaround period for containers of Nepal-bound cargo citing the unfavourable situation in Nepal due to the border-blockade. A majority of the shipping liners, namely, APL, Maersk, Safemarine, OOCL, Pacific International Lines and MSC have extended the grace period to 36 to 56 days temporarily. Likewise, Himalayan Terminals Pvt Ltd (HTPL), a Nepal-India joint venture terminal management company, on NITDB’s request has also waived the demurrage charges for a period between September 20 to October 29 (40 days) for delay in clearance of goods from the Inland Clearance Depot (ICD) Birgunj owing to the difficulties being faced in customs clearance by the cargo stuck at ICD Birgunj due to the Tarai protest.