News / Feeder operators targeting perishables are 'cashing in' on Red Sea crisis

X-Press Altair. Photo: VesselFinder

Indian reefer cargo stakeholders are “cherry-picking” ocean services going via the Red Sea, instead of services taking the long detour around the Cape of Good Hope.

Eyeing a lucrative business window, a number of regional or feeder lines have in recent weeks positioned themselves on India-Red Sea/Mediterranean trades, despite the security risks tied to sailing through the Red Sea region.

According to sources at Nhava Sheva, NVOs are increasingly partnering with these niche short-haul liners to open Red Sea sailings, both on a scheduled or ad-hoc basis. SeaLead, Emirates Shipping, KMTC, TS Line, Global Feeder, Unifeeder and CULines, as well as X-Press Feeders, are said to be active in trying to exploit the disrupted market, as mainliners continue to reroute vessels.

“NVOs are moving [Indian] cargo to and from Turkey via the Red Sea by linking up with feeder lines,” one Mumbai-based freight forwarder told The Loadstar. “They’re cashing in on a crisis.”

The latest example was a consignment of premium citrus fruits from Egypt, imported by Mumbai-based IG International.

“Egyptian citrus has always been synonymous with quality and flavour,” the firm’s director, Tarun Arora, told The Loadstar. “And this marks the start of a fruitful season.”

According to local trade sources, that first Egyptian fresh fruit container that arrived in India last week had made the Port Said-Nhava Sheva direct voyage in 17 days, significantly shorter than the average time taken sailing via southern Africa.

The cargo was carried by Singapore-based liner ONE subsidiary X-Press Feeder’s X-Press Altair, a mid-size vessel declared by Sea Consortium, a common feeder service provider with headquarters in Singapore.

Sources at DP World Nhava Sheva, which docked the vessel, told The Loadstar it carried loads booked on behalf of Unifeeder and several NVOs, in addition to shipments under ONE’s bills of lading.

Faster transits and service reliability are critical to the perishables trade and, with ongoing vessel diversions, shippers in that segment have had to deal with serious supply chain issues.

Upcoming Red Sea sailings out of Nhava Sheva include X-Press Mekong, deployed on the Red Sea-Gulf-India (RGI) service, X-Press Dhaulagiri, an ad-hoc loader, and KR Tasman, deployed by CULines on the new IMR loop, according to port sources.