The customs department has come out with a plan to reduce congestion on port user roads.
The department has given in-principle approval to open round-the-clock counters in a few more container freight stations (CFS) apart from the existing one at Madhavaram by next week.
The customs department is expected to submit its proposal to the Chennai Port Trust on Saturday, when stakeholders would meet to submit their survey findings and discuss further on ways to reduce congestion.
Chennai Customs House Clearance Agents Association president A. V. Vijayakumar said if the customs counters were open for 24 hours then it would help agents to get documentation done quickly and proceed directly to the container terminals.
Recently, the state government had asked the port to take serious measures to avoid parking of trailers on the road. The port in turn asked the customs clearing agents to discharge the containers at the CFS and the cargo would be summoned to the terminals as per the requirement.
However, the customs agents were apprehensive that the procedure might incur the trade additional cost, as it had to pay the CFS and also transport operators.
“The customs can keep its counters open at a few CFS like the one in Sriperumbudur for handling exports from Bengaluru, and Red Hills for those cargo coming from Andhra Pradesh and Kolkata,” Mr Vijayakumar added.