Islamabad: Shipping agents have warned the cash-strapped Pakistan government that all exports could come to a halt as foreign shipping lines are considering stopping their services for the country after banks stopped remitting freight charges to them due to a lack of dollar availability, according to a media report on Saturday.
Apart from bordering countries, almost all the international logistics from Pakistan are catered by sea and any disruption could create serious issues for the country's international trade, Pakistan Ship's Agents Association (PSAA) chairman Abdul Rauf warned Finance Minister Ishaq Dar through a letter. If international trade is stopped the economic situation will worsen, the association warned, adding that the foreign shipping lines are already considering winding up their services in Pakistan due to reduced cargo volumes.
The PSAA chairman also wrote letters to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Namar, and Maritime Affairs Minister Faisal Sabzwari, the Dawn newspaper reported. Rauf requested the ministries and departments concerned to intervene to ensure continuity in Pakistan's seaborne trade by allowing outward remittance of surplus freight amounts to respective foreign shipping lines forthwith.
Discontinuation of outward remittance of surplus freight which amounts to respective foreign shipping lines was hampering Pakistan's seaborne trade which is heavily dependent on foreign shipping lines, the letter added. Rehman Malik, who has been working as an agent and is a member of the All Pakistan Customs Agents Association, said he had never seen a worse time in the last 40 years of his working in the field.
We have thousands of shipping containers held up at the Karachi Port because of payment guarantees and most of them have essential items like medicines, raw materials diagnostic equipment, chemicals, and food items, he said. You can understand how all this must be hurting our manufacturing industries, he said.