In an astonishing move, the shipping companies have announced to begin collecting 'Port Congestion Charge' from importers from March 22, 2017. According to the client advisory issued by the shipping lines, Containers Imbalance Charge (CIC) or Port Congestion Charge is going to be implemented on all imports destined to Karachi by March 22, 2017 in view of the ongoing severe congestion at Karachi ports.
The advisory further said that the shipping lines would collect US $150 per 20ft container and US $300 per 40ft container from the consignee at the destination before delivery order release.
Meanwhile, market sources said that no authority bothered to regulate the shipping lines and squeeze their neck for said unjustified charges that encouraged them to impose more unnecessary charges on the trade, in future.
When contacted, Arshad Jamal, senior vice chairman All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA) confirmed that shipping lines were imposing Port Congestion Charges by the end of March and the same would be collected from the importers, which he termed unjustified. He urged the relevant authority to take serious notice of it to avoid unnecessary financial burden on the traders.
He said that APCAA was continuously urging the terminals and customs department to address port congestion issue as the import volume was witnessing double-digit growth on year-on-year basis and if no measure was taken to streamline the growing trade volume then the port congestion issue would remain unresolved.
Answering a question, he said, the reasons behind the port congestion are sluggish handling of containers by the terminals and containers' highest marking for examination by the customs authorities. He said the traders had no role in raising said problem. However, the shipping lines, which are making millions through unnecessary charges, now find new venue for revenue generation, due to absence of proper regulations, he lamented.
Moreover, Arshad said that despite charging US $7 as scanning fee terminals remain unable to provide said facility that led high examination marking by the customs authority, which he termed as one of the major reasons for the port congestion.
Meanwhile, the terminal operators were of the view that the customs department, despite having advanced multi-dimensional scanners at ports, was marking maximum containers for physical examination, due to lack of confidence and skilled manpower.
They said that the most of the ports in the said region were using mono-type scanners for cargo clearance but all terminals operating in Pakistan installed advanced multi-dimensional scanners on the directives of customs department, following the clearance of Nato/Isaf and Afghan Transit cargos.
Although the terminals have installed advanced scanners, which are capable to scan containers from both vertical and horizontal directions, the customs department instead of using these scanners with maximum capacity, is marking maximum containers for physical examination, due to lack of confidence and inadequate skilled manpower, they said.
On the other hand, the customs department, which appears responsible for port congestion, keeps mum over the said announcement by the shipping lines. When asked, top customs official expressed his incognisance about the said development, saying that he did not receive any such complaint from the business community.
Comments
Comments are closed.