SCI eyes Europe-bound cargo from Brazil, S Afric
The Shipping Corporation of India’s (SCI) journey would not end at Brazil and South Africa; they now plan to pick up Europe-bound cargo from the two countries.
By Priyanka Talwar, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The Shipping Corporation of India’s (SCI) journey would not end at Brazil and South Africa; they now plan to pick up Europe-bound cargo from the two countries. Currently, these ships return empty from the two destinations. This would help the company to gain extra revenue as ships hardly get any India-bound container consignments on their return journey from Brazil and South Africa. Moving forward to European markets would generate extra revenue for SCI, an official in SCI said.
“The market for Brazilian and South African goods is quite considerable in Europe and West Asia. Most of the exports from these two countries consist of refrigerated products, which India does not import,” he said.
The alternatives are being thought of in the light of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trilateral shipping agreement signed in September this year at the IBSA summit. The agreement was aimed at increasing shipping services between the countries. However, Indian ships have not shown much enthusiasm given the inadequate quantum of cargo and the lack of two-way traffic.
“South Africa exports a large amount of refrigerated goods including wines and fruits to Europe. Brazil also exports refrigerated goods like poultry which are in great demand in the Gulf countries. So if we could tap into this trade, Indian vessels would show greater participation in the trilateral IBSA trade,” he said. India’s trade with Brazil and South Africa stood at $8 billion last year.
While India exports containerised cargo to Brazil and South Africa, goods exported by these countries to India consist primarily of bulk cargo, like sugar. Since inward cargo consists only of bulk, shipping lines cant operate one-way container services.
Empty capacity and the resulting revenue loss is a deterrent for Indian shipping companies to increase shipping services and ply all the way to Brazil. Currently, bulk of the cargo to Brazil and South Africa is shipped to Colombo in Sri Lanka from where it is loaded onto vessels heading to
“The market for Brazilian and South African goods is quite considerable in Europe and West Asia. Most of the exports from these two countries consist of refrigerated products, which India does not import,” he said.
The alternatives are being thought of in the light of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trilateral shipping agreement signed in September this year at the IBSA summit. The agreement was aimed at increasing shipping services between the countries. However, Indian ships have not shown much enthusiasm given the inadequate quantum of cargo and the lack of two-way traffic.
“South Africa exports a large amount of refrigerated goods including wines and fruits to Europe. Brazil also exports refrigerated goods like poultry which are in great demand in the Gulf countries. So if we could tap into this trade, Indian vessels would show greater participation in the trilateral IBSA trade,” he said. India’s trade with Brazil and South Africa stood at $8 billion last year.
While India exports containerised cargo to Brazil and South Africa, goods exported by these countries to India consist primarily of bulk cargo, like sugar. Since inward cargo consists only of bulk, shipping lines cant operate one-way container services.
Empty capacity and the resulting revenue loss is a deterrent for Indian shipping companies to increase shipping services and ply all the way to Brazil. Currently, bulk of the cargo to Brazil and South Africa is shipped to Colombo in Sri Lanka from where it is loaded onto vessels heading to
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