What is the Role of a Shipping Agent for Abandoned Cargo?

There are often cases of cargo being abandoned by the owner at the shipping yard. These cargos thus become a burden for the shipping company. Naturally, they find no use in the cargo and cannot hold them for a long time. Shipping agents in Kolkata face such situations where the owner might have left the cargo stranded in the shipping yard due to high import duties. Since the cargo is left abandoned in the shipping yard, it falls under the shipping company’s responsibility to get rid of the same.

What happened to abandoned cargoes?

To avoid additional expenses of storing the cargo in the premises of the shipping yard, the shipping agents sometimes hold an auction to sell the products. To get rid of the cargo burden, the shipping companies generally take these steps.

• They unpack the load from the containers and empty the ships for further transportation.
• They keep the cargo safely stacked away in a special storage facility and wait for the owner to claim the same.
• When the cargo remains unclaimed, they prepare the same for selling purposes through auctions.
• After-sales, they take up the necessary money from the sales to offset the expenses they have incurred for storing and managing the abandoned cargo.

Why are cargoes abandoned?

Although the specific reason at times remains unknown, however, some of the most common reasons cited by owners or importers are as follows:

• Lack of suitable import permit or license to claim the cargo
• Disagreement between the consignee and the shipping agent
• If the goods have been damaged during transit
• If the importer is incapable of paying the huge import duty.
• If the shipment has been delayed and the purpose of the consignee is over.
• If the importer is not satisfied with the goods.

If you face customs clearance issues at shipping yards, hire trustworthy and reliable shipping agents from AP Clearing Private Limited. We successfully look after all the needs of our clients.