The Indian side has expanded the access of foreign cargo to the country's ports. The measure is related to the disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and continues the line of solutions that began in the spring, when the Indian authorities simplified the return of export shipments stuck due to the situation in the Strait.
The point of the step is to redistribute the flow. When passage through the strait is restricted or permits are required, ships and cargoes accumulate: some shipments cannot reach the destination port, and others cannot return to the sender. In such a situation, the infrastructure of a regional hub becomes a valuable resource, and the country that opens it takes part of the transshipment and related revenues.
India is suitable for this role in terms of geography and terminal capacity. The western coast of the country is located at the exit from the gulf zone, deep-water ports are capable of receiving a large-tonnage fleet, and a network of internal warehouses allows cargo to be placed while the issue of the route is being resolved.
For Russian participants in foreign economic activity, the direct consequence is limited: most companies' routes across the gulf are linked to the North—South corridor and Iranian ports, rather than Indian transshipment. The indirect consequence is more important. The appearance of an additional unloading point reduces the pressure on the region as a whole, and with it some of the surcharges included by carriers in the rates for August and September shipments.
A practical step for those who carry cargo in this direction is to request from forwarders and agents the current conditions of entry into Indian ports and rates for terminal processing and storage before booking September shipments. Compare them with the cost of downtime while waiting for passage through the strait. If the difference is in favor of transshipment, it makes sense to include the scheme with intermediate unloading in the contract in advance, rather than agreeing at the moment when the ship is already in the roadstead.
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