KARACHI: Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) are facing difficult situation after goods transporters announced to end ten days long strike.
According to the details, the delegation of Karachi Goods Transport Alliance and All Pakistan Goods Transport Carrier Association held a successful day-long meeting with Governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair and ended the strike called against ban on heavy vehicles to enter the city.
Due to the strike, the country faced worth Rs214 billion transactions loss and both Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) got packed up after vessels kept on discharging the containers and other general cargo at different terminals but transporters refused to move the containers without resolving their issues.
Transporters in the meeting informed that they could not run their vehicles in Karachi due to imposition of Section 144 and harassment by the police on which Governor Sindh assured to resolve the matter by constituting a committee.
Governor Sindh assured the transporters that all the reservations and grievances will be addressed as well as security will be provided to their vehicles loaded with goods.
Sources informed that it is very difficult to calculate the actual losses but it can be more than 1 billion dollars.
After announcement of the strike, roads of both sea ports were packed with heavy vehicles loaded with contained and other general goods.
Sources at Karachi Port Trust informed Customs Today that movement of more than 8,000 containers is not a simple task and it can take three to four days or a week to clear the backlog at terminals.
