KARACHI: Shipping Lines in the country here on Wednesday agreed to withdraw its decision to impose Port Congestion Surcharge on import consignments arriving at Karachi Port’s private terminals, namely KICT and PICT.
The decision was made during a meeting convened at KPT Head Office to review the ground realities following a complaint registered by Pakistan International Freight Forwarders Association (PIFFA) and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) about the issue.
Meeting attended by concerned stake-holders including Shipping Lines, Pakistan Customs, Karachi Port Trust, Shipping Association and other relevant agencies reached to the conclusion that since no congestion exists at Karachi Port and its terminals i.e. KICT and PICT hence there was no need for any surcharge under the given pretext. The port users and shipping lines agreed to the justification put forwarded by KPT officials and expressed complete satisfaction to the fact that KPT has enough space to accommodate their containers in case of any overflow.
Consequently, it was unanimously resolved that Port Congestion Surcharge will be withdrawn by the shipping lines immediately. It was also agreed that co-ordination meetings involving shipping lines and terminal operators, from now on, will be more frequently held to obviate occurrence of such issues in future.
