India Extends Transhipment Access for Hormuz-Diverted Cargo to October
All seaports and international airports open to foreign-bound boxes, breakbulk and dry bulk
India has opened all of its seaports and international airports to the transhipment of foreign-bound cargo diverted by disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, extending an arrangement that now runs until 31 October 2026.
The measure covers full-container-load and less-than-container-load teu cargo, including shipments routed through multiple customs stations. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs set out the arrangement in Circular No 36/2026-Customs, issued on 20 August under Section 143AA of India's Customs Act, 1962, and signed by Indrajit Panda, under secretary in the board's Customs-IV division.
Under the circular, customs commissioners may approve the temporary unloading, storage and onward transhipment of liquid bulk, breakbulk and solid or dry bulk cargo destined for foreign ports but forced to divert to India because of maritime security risks, disrupted shipping routes or other logistical problems. Approvals are granted case by case rather than as a blanket permission.
Cargo can be held in customs areas, bonded warehouses, bonded tanks, silos, yards and other approved facilities, solely for onward international transhipment or re-export. The goods must remain under customs control throughout, with supervision during discharge, quantity checks, an approved custodian, inventory records and a bond or undertaking in place. They cannot be cleared for domestic consumption or transferred into India's domestic tariff area. Repacking may be permitted under customs supervision where operationally necessary.
Shipments moving through several customs stations require prior consent between designated nodal officers, and the receiving station must confirm that it holds sufficient secure storage, infrastructure and logistics capacity before the cargo moves under customs control.
The framework has been extended in steps. India first granted nationwide transhipment access to both container categories on 27 March, and a subsequent order kept the earlier Hormuz-related customs measures in force until 30 June. The latest circular carries the arrangement through to the end of October and brings solid and dry bulk cargo under the safeguards previously applied to breakbulk shipments, which widens the scope from boxes and project cargo to the commodity flows most exposed to a closed strait.
