India’s Ports Ministry Issues Crisis SOP as Middle East Shipping Disruptions Bite

India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has issued a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) directing all major ports to implement crisis management measures in response to ongoing geopolitical disturbances in the Middle East — a region that handles a significant share of India’s seaborne trade.

The directive, issued on 6 March 2026 and signed by Joint Secretary Venkatesapathy S., was circulated to the Chairpersons and Managing Directors of all major ports, as well as to Maritime States and Union Territories. It comes after extensive stakeholder consultations with shipping lines, exporters, terminal operators, and customs authorities.

At the heart of the SOP is a new port-level accountability structure. Each major port is required to appoint a dedicated Nodal Officer at the rank of Head of Department (HOD) or Deputy HOD, who will serve as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for all crisis-related issues. These officers must be available on a 24×7 basis, and their names, designations, contact numbers and email IDs are to be published prominently on each port’s website.

Critically, the SOP sets hard resolution timelines. The Nodal Officer must ensure decisions and corrective actions are completed within 24 hours for port-level issues. Where matters require the involvement of external agencies — such as Customs notification of new bonded storage areas — completion must occur within 72 hours.

Port Chairpersons have also been directed to hold periodic meetings with key stakeholders to closely monitor the evolving situation and address legitimate concerns in real time.

On the operational side, the Ministry has outlined a raft of facilitation measures that ports may implement as appropriate. These include permitting Middle East-destined cargo to be stored as transshipment cargo during the affected period, allocating additional storage areas, and facilitating ad-hoc vessel berthing for Middle East-bound transhipment cargo. Ports are also asked to expand bunkering capacity wherever feasible, reflecting the rerouting pressures many vessel operators are currently managing.

The SOP further requires ports to closely coordinate with agencies including the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to ensure timely implementation of all measures.

Each major port must submit a daily action-taken report to the Ministry, ensuring central oversight of port-level responses across the country.

The SOP took effect from the date of issuance and will remain operative until formally withdrawn. The Ministry stated it will review the situation periodically and may modify or extend the framework as conditions evolve.

India’s major ports — including JNPA, Mundra, Chennai and Visakhapatnam — collectively handle hundreds of millions of tonnes of cargo annually, with a significant proportion routed via the Red Sea and Gulf corridors that have been disrupted by regional hostilities. The SOP represents one of the most structured governmental responses yet to the trade impact of the ongoing West Asia crisis.