Two-day cargo suspension costs exchequer Rs 4 billion

Activities at Customs House remained suspended for the second day in a row on Wednesday as panic gripped the city after MQM chief Altaf Hussain's detention in UK in connection with money laundering charges. The cargo movement - inward and outward - at ports stayed suspended, resulting in revenue loss to the tune of over Rs 4 billion to the exchequer in two days.
Although the standard number of goods declarations was received on Tuesday, customs department remained unable to process them because of uncertainty that engulfed the city after the news of Altaf's arrest, sources said. However, cargo handling at Karachi Port and Port Qasim remained as usual, they maintained. All major markets in the city remained closed, however shops in inner lanes in many localities were partially opened. Public transport remained thin, creating immense difficulties for commuters. Fuel and gas stations in many areas were also seen closed.
While staging sit-in since Tuesday evening, MQM workers, supporters and sympathisers have been occupying Numaish Chowrangi, a main artery that connects Karachi port to other cities. The MQM workers are reluctant to call off their protest until they hear the voice of their Quaid.
Meanwhile, customs sources said following the absence of goods carriers, the import cargo could not leave the port area and similarly no export cargo could be brought in as truckers avoided taking risk to bring their vehicles in the city, where over a half dozen public vehicles were torched on Tuesday.
Even the trucks loaded with import cargo did not move out of port area and remained parked inside the ports owing to city situation. Similarly, the customs offices remained opened with very thin attendance but no clearance of cargo was witnessed, due to absence of importers and their clearing agents at Customs House. Sources said if present situation persists for some more days, the customs department would face serious hardships in meeting its annual budgetary target.
Customs sources said: "Model Customs Collectorate collects highest amount of revenue followed by appraisement and preventive collectorates. But all these collectorates remained inactive during last two days. Some cargo clearance activity was witnessed at airport where Air Freight Unit (AFU) handled import and export cargo but in low volume. They said on an average the customs department clears around 300 to 350 containers per day fetching over Rs 2 billion in revenue but the activity was at a standstill.