The ongoing strike by the transport sector is hurting the country's exports as no empty containers are available in upcountry for export of goods.

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) and Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) have expressed serious concerns over the recent strike by transporters on the axle load issue, of which goods transportation has come to a halt across the country.

Exporters said that as a result of unavailability of empty containers in upcountry due to strike, they are missing shipment deadlines.

One additional factor or for that matter a major cause of the scarcity of containers is the large number of orders that have been received from China after the effectiveness of the Phase II of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and Pakistan, APTMA maintained.

Exporters said that even if the containers will be dispatched from Karachi to upcountry they would take 3 days to reach upcountry where containers are not available for the last two to three days for export consignments. This will take further time, while the export consignments have already been delayed for one week.

Exporters requested the government to take immediate action for resolving the issue so as to ensure timely shipment of export consignments. Otherwise, they may face cancellation of export orders.

They said that on the one hand the government is making efforts for export growth, while on the other these types of happenings directly hurt the government efforts.

Javed Bilwani, Coordinator, Pakistan Apparel Forum said that daily exports worth Rs 10 billion will be disturbed or delayed, if immediately measures are not taken to end the transporters' strike.

He said Pakistani exporters are already facing stiff competition in the world market and getting orders on very low margins. In the current scenario, if exports get further delayed, exporters will be compelled to dispatch consignments by air, which will further increase the cost of production.