A subsidiary of Baxter International Inc., Baxter Pharmaceuticals India formulates, fills,
and finishes a range of essential generic medicines with complementary strengths in
anaesthesia and analgesics, critical care and renal medicines, and anti-infectives.

The timely pick-up of 40 TEUs containing items from a COVID-19 related project from Germany to the client’s factory in Ahmedabad on the same day that the shipping vessel would be berthed at Nhava Sheva. Items present in the shipment included lipoid oil, soya oil, PVC Bags, and glass bottles. The primary challenges we faced with this job included complications from a worldwide lockdown, transhipment delays, and CFS operations and customs.

Despite a severe shortage of 20’ Reefer units in Germany on account of it being peak season in Europe and a worldwide lockdown, we managed, with the client’s consent, to pay premium freight for their high critical shipment and secure enough reefer units and space on the first available vessel from shippers cargo.

The shipment sailed as planned from POL but got stuck at its transhipment port Jebel
Ali as carrier Hapag has taken a sudden decision to discharge all NSA bound containers at
Jebel Ali due to their restricted schedule and blank sailing strategies due to COVID-19. This
ended up delaying the shipment by nine days.

To compensate for this delay in arrival as well as a further four to five days needed for clearance and movement, our client demanded the cargo be delivered on the same day that the vessel would arrive in India. This was a tough ask under any circumstances, let alone a lockdown brought about by a pandemic. However, we assured our client that we would do our best to meet this requirement.

First, we asked our carrier to release invoices and delivery orders a full day prior to the arrival of the vessel, an unusual request that we were only able to get done thanks to good contacts and negotiations.

Next, we had to arrange for the cargo shipment to be moved to the Ahmedabad factory upon arrival of the transport vessel. We promptly informed both the Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) and Speedy Container Freight Station of the urgent nature of this delivery and requested their support to help us make the deadline. This was a time when the whole Exim trade was facing shortages of drivers and laborers which resulted in every CFS taking at least four to five days to evacuate containers from terminals.

Despite typically operating on a first-in-first-out basis, BMCT and Speedy CFS arranged for a dedicated Refer to pick up the shipment within a day of its arrival. Finally, as the container reached CFS, we further supported the Customs House Agent in completing CFS invoicing
and payment formalities on timel and ensured ‘same day delivery of shipment’ as our client required.

The success of this operation allowed our client to get the materials they needed on time to commence production at their factory, resulting in a huge saving of labour and delivery costs for the project. As such, they were both impressed and appreciative of our efforts as a team and assured they would be entrusting us with greater volumes of cargo for customs clearance and warehousing.