May 4: Around 12,000 Nepal-bound containers carrying goods from third countries have been piled up at various ports in Nepal and India. The containers are stuck in the port due to transportation and procedural delays caused by the ongoing lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus.

Likewise, more than 3500 containers are stuck in the Birgunj Dry Port. Meanwhile importers have not turned up at the dry port to clear their containers. The containers were brought to Birgunj from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam ports of India.

The delay in clearing the goods has affected the shipments from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam ports as containers are stuck at the Birgunj port.

There are altogether 19 trains that transport goods from India to Birgunj Dry Port and all of the trains are currently moving towards Birgunj with additional containers.

However, Bishnukant Chaudhary, chief executive officer of Himalayan Terminal that handles the Birgunj Dry Port, informed that the port is already overcrowded with containers and it no longer has sufficient space to unload the arriving containers from India.

“One train carries 90 containers. So, more than 1,700 containers are on the way. Now we are concerned about how to manage the arriving containers,” Chaudhary informed New Business Age.

The number of Nepal-bound containers at Kolkata Port has already exceeded 4,000. The port has decided to send the containers to the nearest Container Freight Station (CFS) if the importers do not receive them.

“About 1,400 containers unloaded at the Kolkata Port before April 23 will be delivered to CFS. We have already informed the importers about this,” informed Vineet Kumar, chairman of Kolkata Port Trust.