Karachi ports: Delay in clearance of consignments increasing input cost

KARACHI: Trade and industries are facing over a weeklong delay in the clearance of consignments at Karachi Port and Port Bin Qasim. According to industry sources, unprecedented delays at ports in the clearance of raw material for the manufacturing industries are increasing the input cost which would be a key factor for expected rise in prices of locally manufactured goods.

They said Port Bin Qasim and Karachi Port were choked and waiting period for docking of ships as well as the clearing time of shipments is increasing to over seven days. Furthermore, they said vessels bringing in bulk cargo like grain and liquids like petroleum products were facing 9 to 11 days to berth that left no more container ground available for stacking and restacking of containers.

"Custom officials are also fed up with the perpetual emergency situation and have resigned themselves to manage five to six consignments per day only. As 30 to 40 containers are coming to a MTO per day, the inevitable charges of Rs3,000 per day plus the $120 are levied by the shipping line which also have to be borne by the importers".

On an average the container which previously used to take three to four days to clear is now cleared after two weeks and that too after extra efforts by the clearing agent," said Aamir Allawala, CEO, Tecno Auto Glass Ltd.

"This perpetual mess of sorts is adding cost for the businesses and also affecting the productivity of the industry," he added.

Mashood Ali Khan, Director Mehran Engineering said, "Another reason is that from last month the world is facing is a very critical problem of space and empty container/ equipment due to which the shipping lines have increased the freight on vessels."

"The present mini-crises should be a wakeup call for the government. The economy is already facing a challenge as a result of shortage of raw materials. Increase in cost of doing business due to factors that are manageable hurt even more. This is time to support auto parts industry from OEM and government side," he added.

Meanwhile, Arshad Jamal, senior vice chairman All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA) termed the shortage of staff and excessive examination as root causes for delays in the clearance of consignments.

He said the delays issue was surfaced after every three to four months and the association took up the issue time and again, urging the customs and the FBR to increase the workforce and minimize the workload from existing customs staff, having multiple charges and was forced to process over 50 to 70 GDs on an average per day.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020