The crisis in Sri Lanka may prove to be a windfall for India's global trade logistics. India's ports are already starting to benefit from the crisis sparked in Colombo, with Mundra emerging this year as the world's most expensive port for standard containers for the first time.

Mundra was the third most expensive port in April.

The growth in container demand and increased traffic are the main factors contributing to the average container price in Mundra soaring to $2,489 in May, experts told media. Dry storage containers are the most common containers used when shipping dry goods, with the exception of items such as food or chemicals that require refrigeration.

Experts said India could get some permanent shipping diversions to its shores and move up the global value chain.

Due to the Colombo problem, more and more transhipment containers have been directed to ports on India's east coast, said Christian Roeloffs, founder and CEO of Container xChange, a logistics technology company that presents a container trading and leasing platform. Due to the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka, ports in South India have gradually started to expand their capacity to manage the improved cargo traffic.

Another important indication is the progress in the container availability index (CAx) values ​​in Nhava Sheva from 0.73 in week 21, the last week of May, to 0.76 in week 22. In subsequent weeks, the CAx will probably be between these two digits fluctuate. † CAx values ​​above 0.5 mean more sea containers entering Indian ports and fewer export cartons required.

May also saw a spike in global container costs that rose for the first time around the world this year to $2,330 for 20DC and $4,410 for 40 high cube containers. Last year, trade - both exports and imports - was hit hard, with sea freight costs from China rising to 200% and a huge shortage of containers.

Amid the crisis in Sri Lanka, the Indian subcontinent's reliance on the port of Colombo is also highlighted. Approximately 3 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) of export-import (exim) cargo is transported annually from India through the port of Colombo. For example, it manages about 50% of Indian transhipment freight.

Arunava Paul, associate director of CareEdge Ratings, told media that initial estimates indicate that 50,000 TEU-70,000 TEU of exim cargo is likely to be diverted to Indian ports in the April-June 2022 quarter. However, this is minuscule and includes only 2 % of total transhipment freight transported from India.