MoC agrees to support cross stuffing of Afghan cargo

The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has agreed to support cross stuffing of Afghan bound cargo at ports.

The agreement was made at a meeting held this month under the chairmanship of secretary Maritime Affairs Division at Pakistan National Shipping Corporation to discuss the matter of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT).

The Afghan side has requested the government of Pakistan for cross stuffing of Afghan cargos at ports, which has been allowed in Iran to facilitate Afghan importers for ease of doing business in terms of low shipping cost.

Now the MoC during meeting agreed to support cross stuffing of Afghan bound cargo at ports in order to increase cost effectiveness and efficiencies. Similarly, Pakistan Customs has also endorsed cross stuffing but intimated that this requires amendment in customs rules and assured to take up the matter internally for speedy remedy.

Meanwhile, private terminal operators and All Pakistan Customs Agents Association were of the view that cross stuffing activities at ports would not only create congestion issues but it would also increase cost of doing business. Therefore, it should be carried out outside the port terminals. On the other hand, KPT has informed the participants that it has enough space to facilitate cross stuffing and would welcome said activity inside KPT area.

Arshad Jamal, chairman APCAA said that cross stuffing of ATT cargos at ports terminals was against the spirit of APTTA-2010 and it may create chaos as after its implementation, there would be 100 percent examination of the goods which would be against the international best practices to deal with the transit goods.

He said that the same would not only increase dual time and cost of doing business but it would also crease unnecessary hurdles in the clearance of goods, which was contrary to the PM's vision for the ease of doing business.

He said that the concept of National Single Window (NSW) and the efforts being taken to develop port community system would be gone in vein, if the said decision was implemented and added that risk management system (RMS) was attracting more consignments than allowed limit i.e. 5% for physical examination and for a time, the ratio of examination rose to 60 percent of the total cargo, which he termed as root cause.

He suggested the authority concerned to incorporate artificial intelligence in RMS to remove such anomalies besides abolishing discretionary powers of customs officers to mark consignment for yellow channel and added that there should only be green and red channels and the system should be fully computerized and transparent.

During meeting it was also informed that no progress has been made on establishing joint common room at ports joint coordination of agencies working at the port such as Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Quarantine Department, etc. Resultantly, the port authorities were instructed to ensure compliance within two weeks and to report the progress.

Pak-Afghan chamber insisted that scanning changes were levied on containers irrespective of whether or not they had been scanned. However, private terminals maintained that the scanning charges were levied on the basis of the investments they had made in installing scanners and for the operation and maintenance of these scanners. Such changes were levied on containers that were using the scanning facility.

During meeting KPT and PQA were directed to state the charges in the published tariff sheet of the respective terminals and only these containers that were using the scanning facility should be charged. Pakistan Customs informed the participants that work was in progress and HS code library would be in place by June 30, 2020, which would expedite the clearance of the cargo from the port.

It has also been decided that the Directorate General of Transit Trade shall regulate all matters pertinent to the issue of ATT from the Pakistan Customs side and the Enforcement Collectorates has now no role in it to ensure a one window operation for ATT matters and improve efficiencies and reduce cost of doing business.

Moreover, it has been agreed by all stakeholders that transparency in collecting charges such as container cleaning, container damage, etc should be maintained and an efficient dispute resolution mechanism should also be put in place.