Period of lockdown: Port terminal operators reluctant to waive charges

Port terminal operators have appeared reluctant to waive port charges from the importers for a period of lockdown announced by provincial government to avert the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
According to details, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a letter to all port terminals and port authorities, requesting them not to charge demurrage and detention from the importers for a period of 15 days in addition to the free time already allowed by the authorities. The request is made in order to facilitate the importers, who are unable to lift the cargos from the ports during lockdown, despite the lapse of free time period.
Meanwhile, sources said that terminal operators have reportedly refused to allow blanket waiver to all import consignments during the aforesaid period. They are of the view that food and medicinal or health related consignments could only be allowed port charges exemption while the rest of the other consignments would be charged.
They said that FBR instead of requesting terminals to exempt port charges from importers for a period of 15 days in addition to the free time, should have also requested simultaneously to the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to waive its royalty charges from terminals.
Replying to a question, sources said that if KPT withdrew its charges then terminals had no issue to allow blanket relief to the importers.
When contacted, Arshad Jamal, Chairman All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA), termed the letter as eyewash, saying that FBR in its letter, which was sent to all port terminals and port authorities, requested to waive demurrages and detention for a period of 15 days. However, collection of detention charges has neither come under the domain of terminals nor port authorities; Arshad said and added that shipping companies, which collected US$ 150 per day on each container as detention charges and that was main source of concern for the importers, were not addressed in the letter.
He said that the board was cognizant about the fact that shipping companies would not rescind from detention charges, which piled up to millions of dollars hence the FBR through this letter just fulfilled its moral obligation.
He said that if the board was keen to facilitate the trade then they should announce to clear all consignments on previous valuation rulings instead of issuing said letter, which he termed as eyewash. Furthermore, he urged federal minister Ali Zaidi to come forward and take all stakeholders on board for conducive action to ensure trade facilitation.