Gradual improvement in imports helping to shore up container shortage issue, says Maersk

Steve Felder, MD of South Asia at Maersk, said as the lockdown and curfews set in and production stopped, exports dropped sharply almost overnight and it was difficult to move goods around the country.

"China was coming back at that time and imports continued to flow in to India causing some congestion at some of the port ecosystem. So, I think that was a very concerning period in global trade as regards India,” said Maersk.

“As things started opening up and the unlock started to take hold from August onwards, we saw exports recover sharply also fueled by consumer demand particularly in North America and also in Europe. That was a turning point. So Q4 – the economy we know grew slightly above 0.4 percent after two quarters of very substantial contraction but trade in Q4 of last year was up 13 percent. Exports were up 17 percent and imports were up 9 percent,” he added.