The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) does not allow a single demurrage-free-day for exports, while it allows seven free days for imports.
Karachi Customs Agents Group (KCAG) Information Secretary Naushad Ahmed said on Tuesday that earlier the port allowed four demurrage-free days for export cargo, but presently there was no such facility.
"This is against the general government policy of facilitating the exports," he added
He said that if the export cargo shut out for any reason, the KPT charged demurrage at the rate of rupees five per tonne from the exporter.
Naushad lauded the facilities provided to the exporters by the KPT, and urged the KPT Chairman to consider allowing some demurrage-free days to the exporters to reduce the cost of exports, which would make Pakistani products competitive in the world market.
The KCAG Secretary said that the KPT had made special arrangements for payment of wharfage by the exporters, who faced problems in payment after normal banking hours.
He said while the Habib Bank Limited branch at Export Terminal had refused to receive wharfage payment after 5.00 pm, the KPT set up a special counter for payment to facilitate exporters.
The wharfage payment, he said, had been greatly streamlined with the computerisation of the system, adding the delays in wharfage payment had been eliminated considerably.
The wharfage, charged by the KPT, was Rs 700 as compared to Rs 3,000 charged by the private terminals, he said, adding the exporters suffered from the high charges as most export cargo was shipped through container vessels, which arrived at Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) at the Karachi Port and Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) at Port Qasim.
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