Mundra Port Faces Wider Container Disruption After Empty-Yard Strike

Empty container yards serving Mundra stopped work on 28 August, and the effect has now reached the two movements most importers and exporters at the port depend on: collecting an empty for factory stuffing, and gating an empty back in after devanning. Customs brokers at the port estimate around 5,000 containers a day are being held up.

The stoppage is a protest against an Adani Ports directive that took effect on 1 September, restricting where shipping lines may nominate empty containers. On 1 September, the trailer operators serving Mundra’s terminals said their members had stopped picking up containers of any kind with immediate effect, and announced that vehicles would be pulled off the road from midnight on 2 September. That widens the exposure from empties to laden boxes sitting at the terminal.

What Is Suspended, and What Still Works

Hapag-Lloyd’s customer advisory sets out the split most precisely. The suspension applies to the affected empty container yards, not to the port itself.

Movement	Status	Source
Empty container allotment for factory stuffing	Suspended until further notice	Hapag-Lloyd advisory
Empty container gate-in at affected yards	Suspended until further notice	Hapag-Lloyd advisory
CFS stuffing	Operating normally	Hapag-Lloyd advisory
CFS gate-in	Operating normally	Hapag-Lloyd advisory
Empty nomination to yards outside the Port SEZ	Not permitted from 1 September 2026	CMA CGM advisory
Road haulage of containers to and from terminals	Container pickups halted; vehicle standstill announced from midnight on 2 September	Kandla Mundra Container Transport Welfare Association

Mundra empty-container and haulage status, from carrier advisories and association notices current on 2 September 2026.

CMA CGM’s advisory describes the same disruption from the directive side, stating that from 1 September 2026 “empty containers may be nominated only to designated yards within the Port SEZ.” MSC and Ocean Network Express have issued their own customer advisories. Mundra’s container complex also includes APSEZ joint-venture terminals operated with MSC and CMA CGM.

Why the Yards Stopped

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone issued a trade notice in late August requiring empty container operations to shift to designated depots inside the Mundra port area, ending the practice of carriers nominating empty parks outside the dock boundary. APSEZ cited road congestion, truck turnaround times, safety and security enforcement, and alleged misuse of empty depot codes.

The Mundra Empty Container Yards & Allied Services Provider Association suspended services on 28 August and is seeking withdrawal of the directive. Its members argue the change strands investment in land, equipment, repair facilities and labour built up around the port to serve the lines. The Container Freight Stations Association of India wrote to APSEZ calling the restriction inconsistent with established logistics practice, and the Container Shipping Lines Association raised the contractual and competition implications of confining nominations to one operator’s facilities.

Depot operators protested publicly over the preceding weekend. The Kandla Mundra Container Transport Welfare Association then escalated on 1 September, stating that “any type of container will not be picked up by our association members.” Members said container pickups had stopped with immediate effect, with vehicles due to be pulled off the road from midnight on 2 September. Because over-the-road handling carries a substantial share of volume at Indian ports, the escalation reaches laden import and export boxes rather than empties alone.

Where the Charges Land

Import empties. A container that has been devanned and cannot be gated in can keep accruing Demurrage & Detention on the detention side, also billed as per diem, for every day past free time. Absent a carrier waiver or free-time extension, the yard closure does not by itself stop that meter.

Import fulls. If trailer operators are not lifting from the terminals, laden import containers can remain at the terminal past free time and accrue demurrage rather than detention. This exposure widened on 1 September when trailer operators said they had stopped picking up all container types, with a broader vehicle standstill announced from midnight on 2 September.

Exports. An exporter who cannot collect an empty for factory stuffing may miss the vessel cut-off and face a rollover or rebooking. If no empty container was released, the immediate exposure is generally schedule disruption rather than detention on that container.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India has asked the Directorate General of Shipping to intervene, listing stranded vehicles, missed vessel cut-offs, shipment rollovers, detention charges, and additional handling and transport costs.

If your team is reconstructing which containers were blocked and when from mailboxes and driver phone calls, walk through how ops teams capture gate-in and gate-out events at container level as they happen.

Who Pays, and What Decides It

Mundra Customs Brokers’ Association took its position before the stoppage began, telling shipping lines that charges raised on this account “will not be honoured or paid by our members” and would be treated as disputed. MCBA has since asked the lines to nominate alternative locations, extend delivery orders and related permissions without charge, and absorb the additional costs the disruption creates.

A blanket refusal sets the trade’s negotiating position, but individual invoices are settled one at a time, against a record of what was attempted and when it failed. MCBA’s own guidance to members points the same way: document failed attempts to return containers, and preserve the records.

What to Record, Container by Container

Container No. and the B/L or Booking No. it moves under
The depot named on the delivery order, and the date that nomination was issued
Date and time the truck was dispatched, and the stated reason the return or collection failed
The carrier advisory in force on that date, saved as a file rather than a link that may be updated in place
Last free day per container, so the exposure is dated rather than estimated
Terminal gate records for laden boxes affected by the trucking stoppage, separating demurrage days caused by the disruption from days already accrued

Rebuilding this from mailboxes in October is where waiver claims usually come apart. The records that decide a per diem dispute are the ones created on the day the movement did not happen.

What to Re-Check This Week

Whether the trailer stoppage continues, and how fully it covers laden import and export boxes
Whether APSEZ suspends, phases or holds the 1 September nomination restriction
Whether the Directorate General of Shipping responds to the FFFAI request
Any carrier update replacing the current Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, MSC and ONE advisories, all four of which are open-ended
Whether the lines issue free time or detention relief for the affected window, in writing and applied per container

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