Private terminals, shipping companies: transporters' strike causes $10 million loss

Private grain and container terminals and shipping companies suffered about $10 million loss during a 10-day strike by goods' transporters that had also halted exports from the country, seaport sources said on Wednesday.
"Terminals are still coping with the heaped up goods at storages in the wake of a long strike by the transporters. The terminals at Karachi Port and Port Qasim are still under severe cargo handling pressure," they said.
The terminals, they further said lacked the required space to accommodate cargoes.
The strike badly affected the terminals' operations while the importers faced huge demurrages for lack of transportations to supply their goods. They said the strike also scaled back the shipping companies' operations in the country's premier ports by at least 50 percent. The terminal operators also expressed fear that the transporters might return to strike again if the government failed to implement the agreed demands. "The resumption of strike will cease everything at ports," they warned.
The shipping lines also faced huge financial loss in the wake of the strike, slashing their operations which forced them to warn the government of halting their services. "The shipping lines warned the government of reducing their operation till the resumption of supply of all export consignments," sources said.
The strike also badly hit the value-added textile exports as a huge number of shipments stayed outside the ports for lack of transportation. "The consignments bound for EU and the US markets faced delays ahead of Christmas and New Year," they said.