KARACHI: At least 6,000 containers are stuck at Karachi Port and Port Qasim due to goods transporters strike and the country is enduring colossal financial losses due to the pileup of export shipments and outbound cargoes at the ports.
President Goods Transporters Association Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Haji Anwer Somroo complained that the civil administrations of Sindh and Punjab have impounded hundreds of their containers to block roads and streets during the Muharram processions.
There are numerous issues that need to be addressed, but the authorities are not concerned, said goods transporters.
They said last year the Karachi Port Trust had paid them Rs2.2 billion for hiring containers for security reasons. This year the law enforcement agencies seized our containers by force, they alleged.
Somroo said the transporters have to pay demurrage to the shipping lines when their vehicles are seized to block roads.
In case of any damage to a container, the transporters have to bear the additional cost as well, he said, adding that the law enforcement agencies are ignoring this.
