Unclaimed and Abandoned Cargo Management in Maritime Logistics: Challenges Faced by Freight Forwarders and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Logistics and freight forwarding are essential components of international trade, ensuring the smooth transport of goods in the global supply chain. Freight forwarders are the middlemen between the exporters, importers, shipping lines, customs authorities, terminal operators, and other logistics service providers, who play a vital role in transportation coordination, documentation, customs clearance, cargo consolidating and supply chain management services. However, the rise in the amount of international freight traffic has led to some challenges in operations, including the pile-up of unclaimed and abandoned goods for ports and logistics service providers. This type of cargo consumes resources at the port, extends cargo dwell time, causes congestion, poses financial, legal/regulatory obligations and impacts stakeholders. The main objective of the present review is to explore the issues of unclaimed and abandoned cargo with specific reference to Chennai Port and forwarders. The current state-of-the-art research in the field of freight forwarding activities, port logistics, customs clearance, cargo management, multimodal transport, technological innovations, and regulation was summarized. The review pinpoints key drivers for the abandonment of goods, such as insolvency of importers, documentation irregularities, customs clearance delays, commercial disagreements, excessive demurrage and detention charges, regulatory adjustments, disruption of the supply chain and lack of coordination among stakeholders. Moreover, the study analyzes the operational, financial, legal, technological, environmental and communication related challenges which are faced by freight forwarders in handling such cargo. The results indicate that while there has been a lot of research on freight forwarding services, port efficiency, logistics competitiveness and supply chain management, very few studies have concentrated specifically on the role and issues of freight forwarders in dealing with unclaimed and abandoned cargo in a port environment, specifically for India. The review points to the necessity for better collaboration between stakeholders, digital integration, efficient customs procedures, upgrading infrastructure, cargo disposal processes, and sustainable logistics practices to address these challenges. Resolve these issues will help to reduce port congestion, logistics cost, efficiency of cargo clearance and increase the resilience and sustainability of maritime logistics operations, especially at Chennai Port.