Exporters and freight agencies
raised the issue of high terminal handling charges at ports and low usage of
dry ports or inland container depots, which add to the overall logistics costs.
At
a meeting with commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, they said the fee
charged by shipping terminals to store and position containers before they are
loaded on a vessel is higher by Rs 10,000-15,000 per consignment than what
ports charge.
“It was a stock-taking meeting on logistics
and shipping issues. The government is looking at reducing logistics costs
everywhere,” said an official. India aims to cross $800 billion of goods and
services exports in fiscal 2025 as against $778 billion in the last fiscal
year.