Goods transporters strike, supplies affected, containers held up

[LRE]

No official effort to end transporters’ strike



Sunday, August 24, 2008
By M Farhan Zaheer

KARACHI: The prolonged goods transporters strike has created shortage of imported commodities while the exporters are facing the risk of losing their export orders due to delay in shipment.

Government has not contacted the goods transporters to negotiate and resolve this problem.

Anis Majeed, Chairman, Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association said usually we have grocery stocks of eight days, now five days have passed and it is easy to judge the results of this strike as many commodities are already short in markets.

This strike did not appear all of sudden; it is the result of last six months of political turmoil in the country. “The consequences of this strike will be devastating,” he warned.

“We appeal to the government to negotiate with transporters and we also appeal to the transporters to end this strike immediately. We hope that from Monday all operations will come back to their routine, as we cannot afford such strike especially when our country is facing serious crises,” he said.

Due to the end of outbound cargo shipments to the ports the cement exports have come to halt despite efforts from cement companies to carry on process of cement exports.

“There are around 10 vessels waiting for loading cement on our ports and we are facing $20,000 per day on each vessel which means we are losing in total around $240,000 per day,” said Muhammad Ali Tabba, CEO, Lucky Cement.

When asked whether they contacted the government on this issue, Tabba replied, “No one is looking after this problem, so we don’t know who to talk to.”

He said: “In order to minimize this problem, we tried to use our private vehicles to load cement vessels but the trucker on strike do not allow us to take cement to ports and our vehicles have been damaged restricting us to further to carry on our efforts, the government does not realises severity of the situation.”

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Saturday demanded government to resolve issues of transporters strike at ports which is causing more problems for business community especially for exporters and importers.

The government should take serious note of transporters strike, as this act tantamount to destabilising the government and democracy, the KCCI press release said. In absence of road transportation, all the goods have been supplied through railways to the country.

An owner of a Container Fright Station from Karachi said that all import and export operations have been blocked, “I wonder how this country would run with all this problems. All the import clearances are hanged and importers and exporters are all screaming and government is not giving priority to trade and business.”

Just 14 containers have been exported in last five days, which is badly affecting trade and commerce.

All the dry ports operations in country have also been clogged. And, resultantly exporters are exporting through air shipments due to the failure by sea routes.

“What is the end result of this problem and how can we bear this chaos is the question before us,” he wonders, adding that it is notable that for the first three days of the strike the officials of provincial and federal government did not even know what was going on in the country.



We want to end this strike in any case. Pakistan is facing serious problems and strike calls at this very crucial time is not in country’s interest, said Malik Alyas, Chairman of All Ports Trucks and Trawlers Owners Association.

He said five days have passed and the conditions are unchanged. Government has been busy in its own problems. We don’t need to go for any strike now. Government is not resolving this issue and we are trying to end this chaos on our own.

The Supreme Council of All Karachi Goods Transport Ittehad (SCAKGTI) Chairman Madad Khan Niazi who is leading the transporters strike has demanded subsidising or reducing fuel prices; compensation for vehicles burnt on December 27; elimination of toll tax across Pakistan; minimising of motor vehicles tax and other taxes; better security measures against theft of vehicles and goods on highways; lifting of the ban on entry of heavy vehicles in Karachi; and the leasing of 159 buildings located near the old truck stand in Mauripur.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=131612