KARACHI: Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had restored its major applications, as it brought its IT systems back online after being hit by a major cyber attack last week.
The company, which handles one in seven containers shipped globally, said it expects to have all its 1500 applications fully functional this week.
Maersk’s port operator APM Terminals said all terminals had resumed operations and said it would continue to increase productivity and available services.
Importers in Pakistan are suffering considerable losses due to the cyber attack and delay in the delivery of shipments.
While talking to Customs Today, an importer of raw steel and CEO of M/s Unique Steel, Amjad Bukhari said “this is a very critical situation and we have talked to the company’s office located in Karachi regarding this matter. The company officials have ensured that the problem will be solved. But we have seen no progress until now.”
Since the cyber attack the importers have faced a gross loss of Rs10 billion and the servers are still not responding properly. Responding to a question, Customs official at Maersk office Nasir Jamshed said the shipping line is aware of issues and loss of importers and striving for every possible solution of the problem.
Chief Commercial Officer of Maersk, Vancent Clerc, said that the shipping line is looking for alternates to release the tension of its customers. The company has lost more than 80% of its data in the said cyber attack and stopped booking till the solution of the problem.
Till the latest update, the shipping line is not taking booking in 76 countries including America, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, China, India and others.
Meanwhile, importers of South Punjab especially Multan region are facing delay in the clearance of their import consignments at Port Qasim.
According to details, import shipments coming for clearance are facing delay due to multiple reasons. Director Saim Mobeen of M/s S.M Foods Company told Customs Today that poor automation system and lack of infrastructure including road network from Port Qasim to Multan also causes delay in the import clearances. Overcrowding of import shipments also causes delay in clearance of their import containers.
Multan based importers are paying high fares and handling charges for the clearance of their import consignments and they are reaching to their destination late after payment of high freight charges.
President Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi told that MCCI received regular complaints against unnecessary delay in the clearance process of their import.
Multan Dry Port Trust Manager Sabir Shah told that there are technical issues normally when server links are down in PRAL and Web based Customs at time of handling shipments.
