Railways withdraws port congestion surcharge

NEW DELHI: Railways today withdrew the levy of the Port Congestion Surcharge, which is 10 per cent of the basic freight.

"In order to attract imported freight traffic, including containers, coal, iron ore, the railways has decided to withdraw the levy of Port Congestion Surcharge with immediate effect," said railway spokesperson Anil Saxena.

He said the demand in this regard had been raised by the ministries of shipping and ports and steel and also by container operators and other industries.

"This will give a big boost to national industrial growth. The surcharge withdrawn was 10 per cent of basic freight and its withdrawal will generate about 15 million tons of incremental traffic," Saxena said.