November 6: Nepali businessmen have been forced to pay heavy price for transportation of goods for overseas business as the foreign shipping companies fall outside the ambit of the country’s law.

The importers blame the government’s inefficiency and lack of effective measures for the random charges shipping companies have been imposing on Nepali businessmen.

The transportation cost via Kolkata Port, which is extensively used by Nepali importers for overseas trade, has surprisingly increased after the two countries initiated a number of measures to facilitate the flow of goods including the electronic cargo tracking system, says Ashok Kumar Temani, chairperson of the Transportation and Transshipment Committee of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).

“The transportation cost increased after implementation of direct transshipment of goods between the two countries via Kolkata,” said Temani.

“We were expecting to reduce both time and cost after implementing this mode of transportation but the result was exactly the opposite,” he added.

The government has said it will formulate laws to bring the shipping companies under its regulation. However, there are doubts that the laws can regulate the companies which have a worldwide network.

Not just Nepal, but India itself is a victim of monopoly of the shipping companies, complain officials at Kolkata Port.

Importers on the other hand say that the shipping companies have been charging freight charge, railway charge, terminal holding charge, ECTS charge among others at their whims.

The Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) has set a uniform price for all shipping companies but such companies have been charging different rates to Nepali importers, says Amrit Shrestha, a Kolkata-based customs house agent.

Kolkata Port had initiated Direct Transshipment for Nepali goods on February 15 earlier this year. To facilitate this system, the customs office of the port had made it mandatory to implement the ECTS. However, the High Court of Kolkata made this process non-binding.

Nepal’s consul general to Kolkata Eknarayan Aryal says that the foreign shipping companies will also be brought under regulation once the government formulates laws.

“The government has expedited the process to formulate laws,” said Aryal, adding, “We have adopted a strategy to increase competition among the shipping companies to reduce the cost.”