The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Relief for exporters of rice

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Relief for exporters of rice

Correspondent

Sequel to High Court directive

Two ships allowed to leave port with cargo
Exporters want same relief extended to all

Kakinada: At last the rice exporters got some relief, with the High Court directing the customs authorities to allow the rice shipments even if they have the cash against documents (CAD).

Vinod Agarwal, MD of Sarala Foods, the star export house and the president of South India exporters association, has been successful in securing favourable orders from the High Court. Two ships, ‘M V Ataduru’ which was fully loaded and ‘M V Man Pung’ partly loaded were made to wait at the port for more than a fortnight for want of customs clearance. The shippers wanted both the ships to sail away, but the customs objected on the ground they did not have the Letters of Credit (LCs) but only having CADs. More over, they have ordered that the cargo loaded from October 11 to October 14 against non-LCs, even though having CADs, should be unloaded for obtaining the port clearance to sail. Now with the court’s directive, the customs authorities have allowed both the ships to sail. The second ship has to load another 1169 tonnes of rice but forced to leave the port without lifting the balance.

Demurrage

“We were forced to leave the balance cargo instead of making an endless and futile wait. Already we have paid Rs.32 lakhs towards demurrage for the delay and another Rs.29 lakhs towards dead freight. Waiting for some more days means losing another Rs. 50 lakhs which we cannot afford,” said a leading customs, clearing and forwarding agent expressing his helplessness. Meanwhile, another ship ‘MV Tay Bac’ has left the port with a total load of 3400 metric tonnes that has valid LC and shipping bills clearance. Of the six rice ships waiting for loading at the anchorage, four ships were given permission for loading basing on the valid LCs. Two vessels are denied permission, as they do not possess the LCs but having direct payment documents.

Since, the court granted relief to Mr. Vinod Agarwal in regard to two ships, other exporters are also now insisting the Customs authorities to extend the same relief to their shipments also. The Customs officials here referred the matter to the Commissioner at Visakhapatnam.

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