Coastal Shipping

Coastal Shipping

The Government is aware of the need to facilitate faster movement of coastal cargo. With the aim of simplification of procedures governing the movement of coastal goods, the Central Board of Excise and Customs(CBEC) has exempted the vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods and operating from coastal or EXIM berths, from the provisions of sections 92(relating to entry of coastal goods), 93( relating to loading of coastal goods), 94( relating to clearance of coastal goods at destination), 95(relating to carrying of advice book by Master of a coastal vessel), 97(relating to non leaving of a coasting vessel without written order) and sub section(1) of section 98( relating to application to coastal goods of certain provisions of the Act as they apply to imported goods or export goods) of Customs Act, 1962. Also, there shall be no examination of coastal goods by Customs.

The Government has exempted customs and Central Excise duty on bunker fuels (IFO 180 and IFO 380 CST) for use by coastal vessels carrying mix of EXIM cargo or empty and domestic containers between two ports in India. Also, the abatement of service tax has been brought at 70% for coastal shipping at par with road and rail. Further, shipping companies have been allowed to charge service tax at abated rate on freight income and avail CENVAT credit on input services.

This information was given by Minister of State for Shipping, Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.