Mounting Logistical Impasse Threatens Saurashtra’s Multi-Billion Rupee Export Commitments

RAJKOT / MUNDRA — The continuing confrontation over empty-container depot operations and landside drayage at Mundra Port has escalated into a severe supply chain crisis for Western India’s manufacturing heartland. In an urgent representation submitted directly to the Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry (RCCI) has sought immediate central government intervention to resolve the standoff between terminal developer Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), off-dock container depot operators, and commercial transport unions.

The representation—formally lodged by RCCI Vice-President Parth P. Ganatra on behalf of regional engineering, casting, diesel engine, machine tool, and automotive component exporters—warns that the prolonged disruption is paralyzing outbound factory-gate dispatches, inflating inventory carrying overheads, and triggering widespread missed vessel cut-offs for shipments bound for Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Origin of the Dispute: New In-Port Empty Depot Mandates vs Off-Dock Operators

The operational paralysis stems from a fundamental restructuring of empty EXIM container flows enforced at Mundra:

  • The In-Port Nomination Mandate: Effective from the beginning of September, APSEZ altered its operating procedure for handling empty containers by requiring shipping lines to nominate empty storage and return operations exclusively to designated centralized yards within the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) perimeter.

  • De-listing External Yard Codes: The operational directive effectively restricted the use of third-party off-dock container yard codes where shipping lines and freight forwarders historically stored, surveyed, and repaired empty equipment.

  • Depot and Trucker Work Stoppage: Off-dock empty container depot operators and associated container transporters strongly resisted the unilateral transition, resulting in an indefinite suspension of drayage services. Approximately 1,500 container commercial trailers have halted movements, leaving an estimated 5,000 containers per day stranded or stalled across Kutch and Saurashtra access corridors.

Impact on Factory Stuffing and Liner Advisories

Empty containers serve as the indispensable circulatory mechanism linking global container shipping lines, inland container depots (ICDs), and regional manufacturing belts. The breakdown in empty repositioning has crippled stuffing workflows:

  • Suspension of Equipment Release: Global container lines operating through Mundra—including CMA CGM—have issued urgent customer advisories notifying shippers that empty-container release for factory stuffing and gate-ins for empty import returns at off-dock yards have been severely compromised or temporarily rendered unavailable.

  • Severe Factory-Gate Congestion: Engineering and machinery manufacturers across Rajkot, Shapar-Veraval, Metoda, and Jamnagar are unable to secure empty dry boxes (20-foot and 40-foot GP containers) to clear finished export orders off manufacturing shop floors.

  • Escalating Financial Penalties: Exporters are being exposed to mounting logistics penalties, including detention fees, unexpected local trailer demurrage, and dead-freight liabilities resulting from container rollovers onto later voyage schedules.

Industry Appeals and Macroeconomic Stakes

Highlighting the acute vulnerability of Saurashtra’s micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) exporters, RCCI Vice-President Parth P. Ganatra emphasized:

"Exporters across the Saurashtra region are already operating under severe global headwinds, including elevated ocean freight rates, vessel space volatility, and geopolitical turbulence across key transit arteries. The trade community cannot afford an artificial domestic bottleneck over empty-container yard management. Exporters have no operational control over depot jurisdiction disputes, yet they are the ones bearing the compounding financial penalties of cancelled bookings and missed letters of credit. We urge the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to broker an immediate administrative resolution so that the fluid movement of empty boxes is restored without delay."

Logistics analysts and trade bodies warn that while Mundra’s quayside vessel berths and automated ship-to-shore gantry operations remain functional, the paralysis of the landside empty-container feeder pipeline threatens to stall third-quarter trade output across Gujarat if central regulatory authorities fail to mediate a workable compromise.