Consignments from China piling up at ports as customs tightens scrutiny

MUMBAI: Consignments originating from China are being subjected to thorough scrutiny at ports and airports, leading to huge holdups and delay in clearing of all goods, ranging from electronics to pharmaceuticals.
Customs officials across the country are conducting a detailed examination and are rechecking all shipments from China even though there has been no official intimation on the exercise, sources told TOI. The earlier practice was to carry out random tests on containers.
Sources said the backlog at ports and airports seems to be so huge that on Wednesday freight forwarding companies FedEx and DHL stopped taking orders for export consignments. However, this could not be verified till the time of going to press.
A similar situation of shipments being held up is also being reported by one of the busiest and largest ports, Nhava Sheva, which handles cargo in the western region.
“No orders, verbal or written, have been issued to any port by customs or by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to bar or not to accept containers from China. If in some cases some containers are being held up then that is because of intelligence inputs and on the basis of risk assessment, as a routine exercise,” a senior tax department official in Delhi said.
A few shipments of pharmaceuticals were cleared on Wednesday, after a detailed investigation and scrutiny of documentation at Chennai, while bigger containers of other commodities and goods are still held up. “For the pharma sector, the situation seemed to be relatively better on Wednesday, and some cargo was cleared. This was after the issue was discussed with senior government officials,” Dinesh Dua chairman, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India told TOI.
With major shipments stuck at ports and airports, pharma industry pressed the panic button. Critical raw materials and bulk drugs are imported from China, with the country accounting for nearly 70% of API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), while in certain cases, the dependence is around 90%.
The “scrutiny” is being attributed to “intelligence’’ received around illegal imports of narcotics at Chennai port a few days back. Officials are seeking stricter compliance and more documentation from importers, which is not a routine procedure, a Chennai-based company said.
Delays or hold-ups at ports and airports even for a few days lead to panic and chaos in industry circles, and confusion among cargo handling agents, experts say.