The Railway Board has withdrawn its hike in demurrage charges. The hike sought to penalise users by doubling of demurrage charges for 4-12 hours and 3.5-4.5 times beyond 24 hours and 48 hours respectively, virtually bringing business to a halt.

The railways had recently hiked demurrage charges, besides reducing the loading and unloading time. A failure to meet the time limit would have led to stiff penalties and an increase in overall cost.

Trade and the commodities sector specifically said they had invested heavily in modernising the loading and unloading facilities, and the demurrage charges were unfair.

Rafeeque Ahmed, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations has thanked the Railway Board for the prompt withdrawal of the hike.

He said that while the rationale behind the demurrage charges was understandable, since the majority of the cargo moved on Indian Railway rolling stocks are handled manually, that is, by unskilled labours, and not by mechanisation, the availability of labour during late evening and night hours had turned out to be a big issue for Indian Railway Goods Sheds, as well as at private sidings.

The FIEO chief said there were also seasonal shortages of labour, during which rakes need to be handled with less than requisite numbers. Container pick ups were getting delayed due to the bad traffic situation at Nhava Sheva, near Mumbai, and rake handling were getting delayed for want of containers.

All these problems would have had an adverse impact on the overhead costs of exporters had the demurrage charges been implemented, he added.

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