KARACHI: Sea ports of the mega city have been facing shortage of space as hundreds of containers are laying idle due to strike of the goods transporter companies for the last six days.
According to the details, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Port Muhammad Bin Qasim (PQA) are facing shortage of space due to the strike. The goods transporters are protesting against the government decision to prohibit the entry of heavy traffic in the city in day time as it causes traffic jam.
The sources in the KPT informed Customs Today that daily from 6,000 to 8,000 containers move to and from the Karachi port area but now due to the shortage of space the containers as well as bulk cargo are in standstill position.
A spokesperson of the KPT claimed that the port has a capacity of 50,000 containers and the vessels are being handled every day to overcome any emergency situation.
The source also informed that KPT off port area is also filling its sea space after six vessels including five oil tankers and one bulk cargo ship are in standstill position from May 3 and only 13 vessels are berthing at the port for their turn to get loading and discharging. On the other hand, eight vessels at PQA are present at the off port area and only seven vessels are berthed.
A petition has also been filed in the Sindh High Court against entrance of heavy vehicles in the city by the Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar. During the hearing, the lawyer of the Karachi Port Trust informed the court that a loss of Rs 4 billion has been suffered due the transporters strike.
It is pertinent to mention that the Port of Karachi is one of South Asia’s largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60 percent of the nation’s cargo located in Karachi whereas Port Muhammad Bin Qasim Authority is a deep-water seaport on the coastline of the Arabian sea which handling more than 40 percent of the nation’s cargo.
