Under the umbrella of Calcutta Feeder Operators (Calfo), a body registered in Singapore, seven feeder operators active across the Bay of Bengal on the trade route between Kolkata /Haldia and Singapore/Malaysia have decided to slap trade surcharge on shipments on the route in view of the acute congestion at Kolkata port, including Haldia.

The surcharge will be $150 per TEU on all full containers loaded at Singapore/Malaysia for Kolkata/Haldia from October 22 and on all full containers loaded at Kolkata/Haldia for Singapore/Malaysia from November 1.

In other words, imports to Kolkata/Haldia from Singapore/Malaysia will attract surcharge of $150 per TEU from October 22 and exports from Kolkata/Haldia to Singapore/Malaysia from November 1.

Turnaround time

The extent of congestion, according to Calfo sources, is like this: the average Sandheads to Sandheads transit time (i.e. time taken for a ship from the Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly river, to Kolkata/Haldia and again come back to the Sandheads) has doubled to around 12/13 days from the earlier six/seven days, thus pushing up the average turnaround time of feeder vessels and therefore the costs.

The drop in the draft in the Hooghly river from the next month will compound the problem as it will reduce the loadability of each vessel entailing substantial loss in revenue.

This is in addition to other problems already being faced by the feeder operators such as insufficient ground slots, falling productivity and rising operating costs due to higher charter hire and bunker rates. The proposed surcharge, it is felt, will recover part of the increased costs being incurred by the feeder operators.

The trade surcharge, it is indicated, will be reviewed and revised as and when necessary, add the sources.

The Calfo members include Advance Container Line (Pte) Ltd., Bengal Tiger Line, Megastar Shipping Pte Ltd., Orient Express Line, PACC Container Line Pte Ltd., Samudera Shipping Line Ltd and Sea Consortium Pte Ltd.