Daily Times

KARACHI: Export-oriented industrialists on Tuesday expressed displeasure over impounding of containers by the government and termed it damaging for exporters and traders.

They were of the view that due to the impounding of large number of containers, business community was facing huge losses as most of the containers were stuffed with perishable items, which have failed to reach destinations after seizure.

There is no transportation of goods from Punjab to Karachi. Textile, leather, marble, yarn and other goods were in particular facing difficulties due to shortage of yarn, stone, leather goods and other material used for value addition for export, they said.

The exporters’ consignments are getting delayed due to non-availability of containers and ultimately they will have to make air shipments. If the situation continues, large number of sea shipments will have to be made by air which will put extra financial burden on exporters, said Chairman of Pakistan Apparel Forum (PAF) Jawed Bilwani.

“If one shipment is made by air, the freight increases from $3,000 to $15,000 whereas there is hardly $4,000 saving.

If two or three shipments are made by air, it will make it impossible for small exporter to survive. The exporters of Punjab will suffer the most due to air shipments and if the export consignments are not shipped on time, it will also communicate a negative message to foreign buyers, he added.

Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) Chairman Anjum Zafar opposed this act and said it hampered export activities seriously which were already declining, particularly leather sector, as it was already on the decline in financial year 2015-16 at 21 percent.

“It casts negative impact to the exports as most of leather products laden containers with precious export cargo specially finished leather were held up at roads in various parts of the country,” he added.

“We are unable to proceed to Karachi Port for embarkation on scheduled vessels in compliance with letter of credit, already executed with foreign buyers/customers.”

Agha Saiddain, senior member PTA, said, during the past four years, the country’s overall exports have declined by 20 percent and such steps would prove fatal for the export sector. Due to halt of business activities during three days, the country has already suffered losses in billions of rupees. It seemed the government wanted to provide protection to Islamabad at the cost of industry and businesses, he added.

Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) Senior Member Ghulam Rabbani said this may result in cancellation of export orders or to impose heavy penalty for late execution from Pakistan to destinations concerned as well, which would ultimately be harmful for country’s exports and national exchequer to further extent.

He urged the government for the immediate release of all containers stuck up on the roads to restore the process for reaching containers to Karachi Port smoothly and conveniently to embark in time.

All Pakistan Marble Mining Processing Industry and Exporters Association Chairman Sanaullah Khan said marble sector export from the country through Karachi Port stands at around $1.3 million a month but due to non- availability of containers, exporters were unable to ship their goods in time. This would incur heavy financial loss to them, he asserted.

Due to this tendency of police, transporters are refusing to provide empty containers due to fear of seizing by police on the way. Due to this act, export activity is completely halted and besides it is apprehended that impounded containers would also bring severe impact on import activities for meeting basic raw materials for export manufacturing industries, he said.

The industrialists demanded that the government immediately release all impounded containers to save the country from further financial losses.