Asia/Pacific News
Indian Govt Offers Economic Relief to Cabotage Sector
India's maritime cabotage sector is to get some respite from the high cost of bunker fuel.
The government has said that coastal shipping should be exempt from port- and vessel-related charges for the next six months.
An additional move aimed at keeping coastal shipping going is for state governments to lower VAT on diesel fuel.
"The rising fuel cost at international level is making our local roll on/roll off passenger ferries operations unviable," shipping minister Sarbananda Sonawal was quoted as saying in the India Times .
The minister added that the move was a "necessary breather" for the sector, according to the report.
Global bunker prices have risen on the back of inflated crude values. A combination of pent up demand post-covid, port congestion and the political and economic uncertainty associated with
the Ukraine-Russia conflict is behind the rise.
