JOC Staff | Aug 13, 2010 9:44AM EDT
Hapag-Lloyd on Friday said it stopped accepting hazardous cargo bookings to and from India's Port of Mumbai, effective immediately.
The move comes after the port authority issued a trade advisory banning shipment of hazardous materials listed under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, effective Sept. 6, on safety grounds.
The port's abrupt decision earlier triggered protests from the Mumbai-Nhava Sheva Ship Agents' Association, calling on the authority to hold an urgent review meeting with all stakeholders.
Separately, the association urged the port authority to waive berth hire charges for vessels which have been stranded at cargo terminals because of the recent port shutdown. "We request port management not to charge berth hire charges for all the vessels which are idling due to the obstructions in the Mumbai port main channel for no fault of theirs," it said.
The group, which represents the entire ship agents' community at the ports of Nhava Sheva (Jawaharlal Nehru) and Mumbai, also plans to approach the Nehru authority for waiver of dwell time charges on export containers which missed originally scheduled vessel connections.