The huge quantity of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) cargo, held up at Karachi Port and Port Qasim due to the Sindh government levy, has not moved swiftly due to insufficient wagons supplied by Pakistan Railways (PR).
This was revealed by Afghan Transit Clearing Agents Group spokesman on Monday.
Blaming the Pakistan Railways for preferring national cargo like wheat and fertiliser for movement to the upcountry, he said less attention was being paid to help the Group clear about 4,000 containers, held up in transit, which are continuously added by fresh arrivals.
The Pakistan Railways sources, when contacted, accused Afghan cargo agents of not properly utilising the wagons supplied to them due to slow pace of loading.
The Afghan Clearing Agents Group held a meeting to sort out problems and decided the wagons supplied by the Pakistan Railways would be loaded in 72 hours. In cases wagons were not loaded within the specified period, the Pakistan Railways would have the option to allot the same wagon to the other member waiting in line, it said.
The group set some pre-conditions for the arrangement, which provided that the Pakistan Railways would ensure supply of wagons on time with proper placement and would swiftly remove the loaded wagon.
The Group made it clear that this would be a temporary arrangement for 15 days, effective till November 13, only to clear the backlog.
The Group requested the Pakistan Railways to ensure supply of wagons to Afghan transit cargo as the goods were bound by law under the Afghan Transit Trade Service (ATTS) to be moved through railways, while other goods could be moved by road as well.
Giving reason for the slow loading, the Group said that clearing agents were facing numerous problems in loading due to the following reasons:
-- All KPT sheds and terminals are jammed and on September 8, the KPT stopped de-stuffing of Afghan cargo in their shed.
-- Several containers are untraceable in the ports and if found these containers could not be transported to the required sheds for de-stuffing.
-- Due to Ramazan, the Ports, Customs staff and Dock Labour observe short working hours and hence targeted output could not be achieved.
-- Afghan cargo labour has to work in double shifts in fasting hence their output is also slow.
-- Many shipping lines and their stevedores create hurdles by detaining the cargo on the pretext that the KPT did not permit them to de-stuff the containers in stipulated time. The demand for the allotment of the railway wagon first before the container is de-stuffed.
-- There is only one small shed at Port Qasim and that is also far away from the railway line. The trucks loaded with the cargo have to move amidst the congested port area. The Pakistan Railways has allocated on 56 wagons for Afghan cargo while, at present, the demand of wagons is more than 550.
-- It is very difficult to find containers without necessary equipment provided by the Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT), which are scattered in a large area in the port.
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