The Basmati Rice Farmers and Exporters Development Forum (BFEDF) has criticised the role of shipping lines in dealing with shipments of basmati rice stranded at inland container depots (ICDs), transhipment hubs such as Jebel Ali in the UAE, and mid-sea. The situation is a fallout of the Iran war that has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being blocked. 

BFEDF Chairperson Priyanka Mittal, who is also director at KRBL, told businessline in an interview that shipping lines have behaved “hypocritically” in the whole issue.

“Shipping lines are taking a very asymmetrical position concerning force majeure. They are saying we can’t deliver the product because it’s force majeure; we invoke it because of war,” she said. 

Shipping lines, particularly the large international ones, have taken a rather “extortionist” stance in continuing to charge for stranded containers. It is more stressful for MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises) because the cargo value is low. 

Lauding govt’s role

“In 40 days, the cargo is sitting either at the port, at the ICD or at the transhipment hub. In some cases, 70 per cent of the cargo itself becomes the average charge of the liner, which is onerous on the exporter,” said Mittal.

Lauding the role of the government, particularly the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and the Ministry of Commerce, she said they have worked jointly and proactively to provide relief from a ground rent perspective. 

“As far as port detention is concerned, in some cases, there are temporary waivers for the first 15 days, and the government will issue a subsequent waiver,” she said.

Shipping lines are dropping containers at intermediate ports (such as Khor Fakkan or Fujairah) and declaring the voyage as over. This was forcing exporters to pay massive sums —sometimes $9,000 to $16,000—for secondary trucking to reach the final destination, said the BFEDF chairperson.

 DGMA’s proactive role

Containers were left stranded at Jebel Ali port too, leaving exporters to find their own transport to take rice to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or other destinations.

The Directorate General (DG) of Shipping, now the DG of Maritime Act (DGMA), has taken a very proactive role and set up a call last week, inviting all the aggrieved parties. 

“They heard the matter case by case and said they would follow it up. None of the shipping lines, surprisingly, were present. There were only two associations,” said Mittal. 

Basmati exporters request that a “measure of reasonableness” be applied to the current situation. “If there’s a force majeure that is being pleaded by the shipping lines, it should apply reciprocally. It can’t apply to the shipping lines alone,” said the BFDF chairperson. 

Need for martime regulator

The charges on the exporting community should be retracted. Shipping lines should defend the charges they impose. ”They’re holding containers. They are not releasing them. Internationally, there is also a law of enabling commerce, mitigating. They should release the containers to the relevant exporters and then start disputing,” said Mittal. 

Stressing the need for a maritime commercial regulator alongside the DGMA to prescribe commercial rules, she said it should be based on the laws prescribed by the Federal Maritime Commission of the US. 

“It is quite prescriptive because international trade is going to increase. India will become a very important export destination for the shipping lines as well. Therefore, rules and transparency must be enabled such that it is neither a cost for the exporter nor for the importer,” said the BFEDF Chairperson.

Stating that 80 per cent of Basmati exports were destined for West Asia, specifically Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar, she said the blockage at the Strait of Hormuz has been “devastating”. The crisis is across the sectors, including the chemicals, apparel, and handicrafts sectors. 

Rice at risk

 In the case of shipping lines not handing over basmati rice containers, the issue is that rice is at risk in view of temperatures soaring to 40°C, and it needs to “breathe” and cannot stay in containers indefinitely, said Mittal.

While BFEDF is compiling the list of the affected exporters and the value of the shipments too, she said at least five exporters whose consignments were destined to Kuwait, Qatar or Saudi Arabia had to face the problem of shipping lines calling the end of voyage at Jebel Ali. 

The issue has been compounded by the port authorities asking them to move the containers, issuing an ultimatum that if they are not moved, they will auction them. 

“We estimate close to 150 containers are affected. The average value, let’s say $1,000 a tonne, then we are talking to some back-of-the-hand calculations, of course. So 150 containers, on average 22 tonnes, we are talking of $3.3 million,” said the BFDEF chairperson.

Entering crucial season

While the critical period of Ramadan has passed, the industry is now entering a crucial period in June as farmers will be sowing the fragrant rice. With West Asia being a major destination, the Iran war is impacting the industry. 

On the other hand, the escalating shipping charges are causing distress. Freights to Jebel Ali have spiked from roughly $500 to $3,500. Some lines are also charging “War Risk Premiums” retrospectively on cargo already in transit, she regretted. 

Ultimately, the costs will get passed on to the customer. “It will definitely have an impact on the end-selling price. This will lead to people downgrading purchases,” said Mittal. 

However, BFEDF looks forward to an early end to the hostilities in the Persian Gulf so that farmers will feel confident to grow more basmati rice.

Covid-like situation

Stating the situation on shipping was similar to the one faced during Covid, she said this, however, could force consumers to migrate, and it will take time to get them back to consuming basmati.  “Basmati is a sunshine sector on the export side. It earns $7-7.5 billion of forex. Given that 65-70 per cent of the business comes from the Gulf countries, the entire business is really at stake,” said the forum chairperson. 

Stating that there are grey areas in shipping and port charges, Mittal said more transparency was required in prices on what is getting charged and when, including retrospective ones. “There should be disclosure and transparency about a lot of hidden charges,” she said. 

“They (shipping lines) should be more service-oriented, collaborative, congenial and transactional,” said the BFEDF chairperson.

‘Use new powers’

A lot of costs have gone up due to the Iran war, such as insurance. But shipping lines are saying that the increase in freight charges is due to a war premium. “They need to show if the insurance charges have gone up significantly for them to charge the war premium,” she said, adding that there has been no submission even to the Indian government on how much the insurance costs have gone up.

Mittal said basmati shipments to Iran continue in a full-load vessel with other consignments on a free-on-board basis, with buyers having to arrange for shipping. “Iran is also sitting on comfortable stocks (of basmati rice),” she said.

The BFDEF chairperson said the government should make use of its new powers to prescribe transparent commercial rules for the maritime sector. On the other hand, shipping lines should release containers first, make reciprocal waivers and not charge anything retrospective. 

Published on April 27, 2026