Gujarat: Wheat ban relaxed, but pile-up at Kandla port too huge to clear soon

RAJKOT/AHMEDABAD: The massive pile-up of nearly 15 lakh tonnes wheat at Deendayal Port Trust (formerly Kandla port), is not expected to reduce soon despite the central government on Tuesday allowing consignments sent for customs on or before May 13 to be exported.
In fact, the situation could lead to other commodities like rice and sugar too heaping up at DPT if the wheat stock is not cleared, senior officials told TOI. The government of India had banned export of wheat on May 14 citing food security and spiralling inflation.
DPT is a major facility for exports of commodities coming from Northern India. Around 5,000 trucks at stranded outside the port and vessels berthed due to the chaotic situation.
Estimates by customs brokers and port authorities suggest that barely 1.5 lakh tonne may be exported after the relaxation as most of the trucks stranded were in the transit when the ban was announced.
“It has been decided that wherever wheat consignments have been handed over to Customs for examination and have been registered into their systems on or prior to May 13, such consignments would be allowed to be exported,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
Aashish Joshi, a customs agent in Gandhidham, said, “The government notification states that consignments which have been issued a Let Export Order (LEO) by the Customs department will be permitted for export. Trucks stationed outside Kandla are yet to go through this procedure.”
Usually, when the export consignment is loaded in the transport vehicle from Punjab or Uttar Pradesh or other wheat producing centres, the respective exporter or one’s customs broker uploads the shipping bills and other documents on the customs department portal for clearance. Only once the designated officials examine the actual cargo at port and issue an LEO, the consignment gets a green signal for exporting.
Parthiv Dave, an Ahmedabad-based customs broker said, “As the trucks from Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh were in transit to Kandla, there was a severe chaos at the port leading to the pile-up. Due to this, the warehousing costs have gone up significantly and exporters of other commodities are also facing trouble as their shipments are delayed.”
There is little clarity on whether the consignments for which export documents have been uploaded for customs clearance would be cleared.