Karachi Customs Agents Association (KCAA) Tuesday claimed that the operations at South Asia Pakistan Terminal (SAPT) were started in a haphazard manner that led to the piling up of containers, causing severe problems to the trade. Wasiq Hussain Khan, General Secretary KCAA said it seemed that SAPT, which was said to be the biggest terminal of the country, had started its operation in an unsystematic manner as several vessels, which were supposed to be anchored at Karachi International Containers Terminal (KICT) were being entertained by the SAPT.

He said that two of the vessels where IGMs were filed in KICT and traders had also deposited duty and taxes were diverted to the SAPT that left no option but to annul goods declarations and no duty and taxes had so far been refunded. He said that the trade was facing delays in containers' grounding as examination area at SAPT was under construction, causing to pile up containers backlog; adding that if more vessels were diverted to SAPT prior to completion of all construction work, terminal would be choked.

Moreover, he said that trade could neither monitor online status of its containers nor getting information about terminal charges as SAPT did not launch its official website so far. Keeping the said problems in view, he said that KCAA had demanded the concerned authorities not to allow SAPT to entertain more vessels until it would be able to provide better service to the trade.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2016