Container lines covering Indian trades have begun to penalise customers, and more severely spot customers, for failing to fulfil their bookings. These charges are generally in the range of US$100 to US$400 per container for contract clients, while for walk-in customers, they are hovering at around US$1,000 per box.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) will start applying no-show container penalties on Indian customers from 1 June. In a customer advisory, MSC Agencies (India) said: “In view of our ongoing efforts to enable accommodate our customer’s growing demands, it is felt the need to control and manage our bookings efficiently and to be able to manage the current constraints faced in planning & optimization of our capacities.”
“In this regard, MSC wishes to implement Booking Cancellation Fees (BCF), that will be applicable for all export ‘unmaterialised’ bookings against which containers are not picked up, till the port cut-off of the vessel on which a booking is issued,” the company added.
Other leading carriers to/from India are also imposing heavy fines on cancelled bookings.
