Indian freight forwarders dealing with shipments to North America are expressing frustration as carriers increasingly deny gate openings for containers, even with confirmed bookings. This issue has become more prevalent as major shipping lines report fully booked vessels, leading to frequent instances of cargo being left behind. A recent example involves the APL Qingdao at Nhava Sheva Port, where hundreds of containers were not loaded due to limited allocation. Forwarders claim that carriers are overbooking vessels, with buffer bookings extending up to 30% of weekly allocations, to maximize export lifts and compensate for potential no-shows.

The Container Shipping Lines Association (India) and some carriers argue that the higher acceptance of cargo is an effort to accommodate the heavy demand and challenges in scheduling, particularly due to disruptions like the Red Sea crisis. However, forwarders fear losing customers due to these “cargo rollings.” While some carriers maintain that they are working to minimize these disruptions, they acknowledge that occasional cargo rollovers are sometimes unavoidable due to circumstances beyond their control.

Source: Journal of Commerce