Dec 7, 2020
Due to a shortage of containers and an increase in the rate collected by the ship companies, the seafood export industry has been witnessing a crisis in Kerala.
Along with the financial crisis due to Covid-19 and major attempts to overcome it, the fishing industry is facing new challenges with this novel issue of containers.
According to Seafood Exporters Association of India Kerala unit president Alex K. Ninan “most of the units and cold storages have already exceeded its storage limit as the export is being interrupted”.
“At present, they need to reduce production as the storage facilities are almost full to their capacity. The industry is facing a shortage of containers as ships are not allowed to anchor at Colombo port”, Ninan said.
Therefore, all the containers carrying sea products that left the harbours and ports are stuck on the sea. These containers would be able to return once the Colombo port authority grants permission to clear the goods.
Seafood products from Kerala were shipped to Colombo from here for exporting them to countries like the US, Europe and Japan. Seafood from Kerala gets a huge number of orders from foreign countries ahead of Christmas and New Year sales. Containers from countries that are importing goods to India were used for exporting goods. The fall in imports and the increase in demand for containers in China resulted in a shortage of containers in India.
The exporters are suspicious that China is creating an artificial shortage of containers to destroy the Indian export industr