Forgive me for raising a date that is still some weeks away, but it is the sort that arrives quietly. Circular 36/2026, dated 20 August, lets diverted international cargo, FCL and LCL, be transhipped through any Indian seaport or international airport, with bulk left to the Commissioner case by case. It holds until 31 October, and it is the latest in a line of circulars on this since March.
The conditions are what one would expect. The box stays with the custodian under Section 45, it may never go to home consumption, and a move through a second station needs that station's consent by official email before anything is permitted.
What I cannot settle at my own desk is the box still standing in a yard on 1 November with its onward vessel not yet fixed. If no renewal comes, under what does it sit then? And would you advise a client to book against the date, or against a renewal nobody has promised?
From the claims side, there is a second clock the circular does not touch. If the carrier ended its voyage at the Indian port, the cargo policy ends with it unless someone told the insurer promptly and asked for cover to continue, and even continued cover only runs a limited time after arrival.
So before booking against the date or the renewal, I would ask the client one thing: has anyone written to the underwriter? The standing time itself is delay, and delay is not insured either way.
I read the circular through again for this. It has no clause for a box already permitted and still standing in the yard on 1 November. It simply stops on 31 October.
So book against the date. Get the transhipment permission granted and the box moving under customs control before then, and ask the custodian in writing what they will do with anything still on their ground. A renewal nobody has promised is not a booking. If it comes, treat it as a gift.
Not my port, so this is a Mombasa man reading your Act. When the circular stops, the box does not fall into nothing. It falls back to the ordinary rules, and the one I would watch is Section 48: goods not cleared, warehoused or transhipped within thirty days of unloading, or such further time as the proper officer allows, may be sold by the custodian after notice.
That clock runs from the day the box came off the ship, not from 31 October.
Ours at home is twenty one days, then the customs warehouse. I would ask the officer for further time in writing now, while the circular still gives him a reason to say yes.
Agreed, and that is the clock I would fear more than 31 October. Some of these boxes came off the ship months ago, under the earlier circulars. Read Section 48 cold and they are long past thirty days, standing on the officer's further time and nothing else.
So when you write for that further time, name the onward vessel in the letter. An officer extends a box with a plan more easily than a box with a hope.
