Container issue taken up, will address it: Sarbananda Sonowal

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday emphasised that the issue of container shortage would be addressed “successfully” as the matter has been taken up with all urgency.

During a day-long visit to JNPT here, Sonowal also said a committee under the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, with representatives from other related ministries, is looking into the matter.

“This (container shortage) is a big issue — it has been taken up in an urgent manner and definitely we are going to address it successfully,” the minister said.

Exporters around the world, as well as in India, have been facing container shortage for some time now, due to the pandemic.

With intervention from the Shipping Ministry and shipping companies, the situation has somewhat eased.

To address this problem, the government had, in late September, announced a three-month extension for the re-export of imported vessels lying at domestic ports.