Container line CMA CGM has placed temporary restrictions on certain reefer or time-sensitive cargo to be transhipped over Hong Kong.
Its bookings for early next year have been suspended due to the expiration of local permissions, under what it called the Hong Kong Transhipment Cargo Exemption Scheme.
The scheme typically covers six specific temperature-controlled commodities, including pharmaceuticals, medicines, frozen meat and poultry.
According to available information, shipping lines, transport companies, airlines and their appointed agents registered with the Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department under the programme are exempted from various import and export licensing requirements for handling transhipment cargo over Hong Kong, subject to fulfilling some conditions.
The French liner said that as the scheme needed to be validated by a fresh licence after 31 December, it would not be accepting bookings for the six commodities for the first two weeks of January.
“Bookings already requested will be shifted to the alternate transhipment vessel calling, until we get a confirmation from the Hong Kong team for cargo acceptance,” said CMA CGM Agencies (India).
The Marseille-based carrier has declared three sailings affected by the embargo: OOCL Genoa, on the CIX service with a 4 January eta at Hong Kong; Cosco Thailand, on the AS6 service with a 7 January eta; and Xin Hong Kong, also deployed on the AS6, with a January 14 eta.
The transhipment disruption comes as cargo volumes moving between India and intra-Asia markets are seeing traction in the wake of so-called trade diversification or China-plus-one trendsin Asia. To take advantage of this demand uptick, even major mainline carriers have joined niche regional or feeder operators in expanding intra-Asia networks connecting Indian ports.
Last month, CMA CGM announced the launch of a direct West India-China loop, to be known as the Asia Subcontinent Express 2 (AS2).
The service, which began this month, has a port rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Colombo, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Singapore and Shanghai.
“Intra-Asia trade has consistently grown at a faster rate than world trade for the last several years, due to the economic boom in China and India,” said Ravi Jakhar, chief strategy officer at Mumbai-based forwarder Allcargo Group.
“India continues to be a bright spot, with growth in consumption and economy, and this is leading to increased trade,” he added.