KARACHI: The activities at both seaports of the mega city have stopped due to huge backlog of containers.
According to the seaport sources, both Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Port Qasim are packed with thousands of containers loaded with steel, coal, DAP and other bulk cargoes for last nine days. The movement of heavy vehicles is stopped due to strike of goods transporters.
Sources informed Customs Today that more than 80,000 containers are parked at both seaports. Seven vessels carrying coal, fertilizer, cars and other general cargoes are waiting for their turn to berth at the port but 20,000 containers are parked at Pakistan International Containers Terminal (PICT) and more than 20,000 containers are laying idol at Karachi International Containers Terminal (KICT), the sources added.
Eleven vessels carrying different imported goods are present at the port area waiting to be berthed at Port Muhammad Bin Qasim where more than 30,000 containers are stacked, the sources informed.
The sources further stated that more than 10,000 containers are also stacked at the South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT) and due to the jam-packed situation, vehicles are unable to reach and load the said containers due to strike of goods transporters.