The Kerala Exporters’ Forum has asked the Central government to immediately constitute a regulatory authority to control export freight charges that have escalated due to the Red Sea crisis.
In a memorandum submitted to Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal and Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, besides Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman recently, the forum sought an extension of GST exemption on export freight charges.
“Shipping companies are charging us at least five times more than normal, citing extra time and expense for each journey as they are no longer able to access the Red Sea and the Suez Canal for freight movement to Europe and the US. Going around the Cape of Good Hope is 30% more expensive than normal transport. They call it ‘war compensation’,” forum president K.M. Hamid Ali told The Hindu. The forum demanded that the Centre come up with a regulation so that shipping companies shall not change the tariff as they pleased.
