{"id":107557,"date":"2026-03-01T18:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/896705501"},"modified":"2026-03-01T18:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:32:32","slug":"government-calls-urgent-meet-as-west-asia-turmoil-hits-air-cargo-shipping-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/01\/government-calls-urgent-meet-as-west-asia-turmoil-hits-air-cargo-shipping-routes\/","title":{"rendered":"Government calls urgent meet as West Asia turmoil hits air cargo, shipping routes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Delhi: The government has called an urgent meeting with exporters and industry on Monday to assess the impact of the rapidly-evolving geopolitical scenario in West Asia and its impact on India amid a sharp hit to air cargo and container movement, impacting trade with the region.<\/p>\n

The commerce and industry ministry will meet officials from other ministries, freight forwarders, shipping industry, and exporters on Monday to “assess the impact of contemporary developments on exports, with a specific focus on logistics and the challenges being faced,” an official said on Sunday. The meeting comes amid Indian exporters expecting a surge in demand for rice especially the basmati variety due to increased stockpiling by Gulf nations in the medium term following the turmoil in the region after the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran and the latter’s retaliation against US assets and allies, targeting several countries.

Exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables said however that shipments to the West haven’t been impacted so far, with air cargoes being rerouted through South Africa to avoid West Asia routes, which will increase costs. Risks of higher crude oil prices could also weigh on container and bulk vessel availability, inflating costs, exposing exporters to losses on fixed delivered-price contracts. It may also lead to steep increase in insurance premiums, exporters opined. “As of now, the impact on ports is minimal but we expect some impact on the overall maritime ecosystem in the days to come, especially on the movement of oil carriers and containers,” said another official. India exported goods worth about $1.2 billion to Iran in 2025, dominated by agricultural products.<\/p>\n

Rice accounted for roughly $747 million, followed by bananas ($61 million) and tea ($51 million). India also imported $408.6 million worth of goods from Iran, including petroleum coke ($135.7 million), apples ($71.5 million), and dates ($33.3 million).<\/p>\n

“We expect an impact on rice and tea exports in the short term but in a month’s time, all countries would want to ensure food security,” said Mohit Singla, chairman, TPCI. “We expect a surge in demand for rice especially basmati and heavy stockpiling by Gulf countries.”<\/p>\n


Singla highlighted prevailing uncertainty in logistics, which is impacting shipments, and is likely to trigger a spike in transportation costs in the short term.
“The Strait of Hormuz has been closed for marine traffic, and this will affect Indian fruits and vegetables headed to certain Middle East countries. However, as of now, we feel that shipments headed for Europe and US may not be affected,” said Kaushal Khakhar, CEO, Kay Bee Exports. Due to airspace closures, airlines are taking longer routes. However, this restricts the amount of cargo they can take as they have to carry more fuel.<\/p>\n

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… a sharp hit to air cargo<\/span> and container movement, impacting … officials from other ministries, freight<\/span> forwarders, shipping<\/span> industry, and exporters on … so far, with air cargoes<\/span> being rerouted through South Africa … restricts the amount of cargo<\/span> they can take as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}