JNPA Updates on Container Movement Status; Number of CFS Bound Containers Reduced
Mumbai:
Port Wings News Network:
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), India’s Largest Container Port, has announced that the number of CFS-bound containers stranded for more than 15 days has reduced from around 2,500 to 450 due to the measures undertaken.
The figure is expected to come down to a negligible level within the next week. The situation was caused due to the acute shortage of drivers within the port logistics ecosystem.
As of today (21 May), the average import discharge per day stands at 12,237 TEUs, while the Import – CFS Pendency in TEUs currently stands at 40,809 TEUs. Gate movement recorded a total of 17,425 TEUs, comprising 7,950 TEUs inbound movement and 9,475 TEUs outbound movement. Also, the green channel movement has been initiated for Ameya CFS from NSICT and NSIGT. NASCOWA deployed 70–80 TTs to facilitate the movement.
Kerry Indev CFS has successfully evacuated more than 400 TEUs through GTI, one of the container terminals at JNPA, within a six-hour window from midnight to the early morning hours. 7,541 TEUs were evacuated in the last nine days for Polaris Logistics Park CFS. Their pendency from NSIGT Port is completed and today they will focus on the evacuation from NSICT and NSFT port.
In April 2026, JN Port recorded an average gate movement of 18,000 TEUs. The daily gate movement over the last 24 hours stood at 18,196 TEUs. The overall daily average gate movement for the current year stands at 17,684 TEUs.
The port in consultation with the stakeholders has taken various measures to mitigate the problem. The following are a few such measures which have been implemented on the ground, and which resulted in a reduction in the number of stranded containers.
To ease out the situation, JN Port takes regular meetings with concerned stakeholders on a daily basis, and a monitoring cell is working throughout the day to assess the situation and take action then and there.
JNPA facilitated additional movement of trains from Port to nearby CFS for shifting containers to CFS. Approx 3 to 4 trains in a day are operated in this manner.
JN Port arranged a special train for bringing drivers from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc. The train was run on the route Malda (West Bengal) – Uttar Pradesh (Eastern) – Madhya Pradesh – Panvel (Maharashtra).
Advertisement was published on daily newspaper (Maharashtra State) and TV News channel (all India basis) inviting more drivers.
A green channel gate facility was made for entry of CFS TTs at nearly 100 numbers, and faster evacuation of containers was ensured.
This has facilitated more trips for the trailer operation. Earlier the trailers were able to do only 2 trips, now they are able to do 3 to 4 trips in a day. This has facilitated to stop the increase in yard pendency which was otherwise increasing too much.
The trailers coming with export containers from far of places are facilitated to take import containers back in their return journey. Necessary co-ordination with concerned organisations is done by JNPA.
Customs also have come up with several measures to help trade in this situation. The scanning process has been made easy to carry two containers together in one trailer. Quick permission was granted by Customs for changing the mode of transport from Road to rail to facilitate the CFS evacuation.
Port also engaged with the Container Terminal operators to waived certain charges like, Change of Movement Mode charges, shifting charges confined to only one shifting even when there is multiple shifting necessitated and rationalisation of rail charges between road movement charges.
As of today, there is considerable improvement in the daily container movement, about 18000 TEUs daily gate operation, and the situations may be normalized by the first week of June 2026.
The shortage is seasonal in nature, as drivers traditionally return to their native places during this period for agricultural activities, vacations, and social commitments. However, this year the situation has been further impacted due to elections in West Bengal and Eastern Uttar Pradesh — regions from where a significant percentage of drivers are engaged — along with disruptions in food and highway support services.
JNPA, in coordination with the Ministry and all stakeholders, remains fully committed to ensuring efficient port operations, minimizing logistics disruptions, and safeguarding the interests of exporters, importers, transporters, and the wider trade community.
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