West Asia War: $300m Worth Seafood Stuck in Indian Ports

Visakhapatnam: The escalating war between Iran and the Israel-US combine is having its impact on the seafood exports from India to the West Asia countries, said the national president of Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) Pavan Kumar.

Around US $ 300 million worth seafood, which is about 8 per cent of the total exports, ready to be exported, has been stacked in various ports across the country due to the war. Of the total exports, AP basket comprises 60 per cent. India exports seafood to Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat with United Arab Emirates (UAE) being a major hub. India exported US $ worth 278.31 million worth seafood to the Middle East in 2024-2025 financial year. The key products include frozen shrimps, fish and dried items with demand peaking during the current Ramzan season.

Pavan Kumar said exports to European countries had not been affected so far as the ships were allowed to pass through the Suez Canal. The export to European countries comprises 18 per cent. “If Suez Canal is blocked, the cargo to Europe as well as Middle East has to be moved via South Africa which will substantially increase the freight tariff,” Pavan Kumar told this correspondent in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. However, exports to the US has not been affected so far. The US is the largest market for Indian seafood which imports 3.4 lakh tons valued at US $ 2.71 billion recorded in 2024-25 financial year. “Periodically the export of seafood from India is being affected. We lost one billion US dollars worth of exports due to Covid pandemic, Trump tariff and now the rising Middle East war,’’ Pavan Kumar said.

According to SEAI, seafood exports to the US fell by about 6.3 percent in value terms and nearly 15 percent in volume during April-Nov of the current financial year compared to the same period last year due to the steep increase in tariffs, which at one point rose to as high as 50 per cent.

Indian Navy search for Iranian ship crew

Visakhapatnam: Indian Navy is still searching for the missing crew members of an Iranian naval ship that was hit by a torpedo of the US submarine on Wednesday.

A release from Eastern Naval Command on Thursday late evening said a distress call from IRIS Dena was received at the MRCC Colombo in the early hours of Wednesday as reported by the Sri Lankan Navy. The ship was operating 20 nautical miles of West of Galle under Sri Lankan responsibility. On receipt of information, the Indian Navy launched its search and rescue efforts commencing with a long-range maritime patrol aircraft at 10 am on Wednesday, to augment the search efforts led by Sri Lanka. Another aircraft with air droppable life rafts was also kept standby for immediate deployment.

INS Tarangini which was operating in the vicinity was deployed to aid the rescue efforts and arrived in the search area by 4 pm on Wednesday. By this time, rescue operations have been undertaken by the Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies.

INS Ikshak has also sailed from Kochi to augment the search efforts and continues to remain in the area to search for missing personnel as a humanitarian measure for ship wrecked personnel.

Coordination with the Sri Lankan side on search and rescue efforts is ongoing, the release said.