The insurance guarantee, the sources said, appeared to be aimed at securing customs levy. The focal person or representative nominated by US Office of Defence Representative-Pakistan (ODRP) has now been directed to deposit insurance guarantee equivalent to customs duty for the clearance of US cargoes.
Sources said that they feared that in the absence of tight security measures; contents of these consignments might be hijacked and used to fuel terrorist activities. According to the sources, the authorities are currently charging Rs 15,000 per container as processing fee.
They said that the government should charge a higher fee "against the security of US cargo consignment"s. They said that a higher security fee would provide financial support to the national economy. They said that the authorities concerned also directed shippers to file electronic manifests and submit their manual copies for the clearance of US cargoes.
They said that similarly to the past practice, cargo manifests could be filed prior to the arrival of cargo, but the same would only be processed for clearance after the arrival of the vessel. They said original cargo manifests would be retained by customs officials for cargo clearance and duplicates would be handed over to the focal person.