KCCI appreciates Govt's announcement to waive demurrage, port charges.

KARACHI -- President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Mohammed Tariq Yousuf, while appreciating the government for waiving the demurrage and port charges on all stranded containers at the ports, expressed hope that the Minister's appeal to Shipping Companies, Freight Forwarders and Port Handlers to waive off their charges would also be taken into consideration by them as relinquishing just demurrage and port charges would not make much difference.

In a statement issued, President KCCI said, 'It is heartening to see that the meeting held to discuss this pressing issue, which was jointly chaired by Maritime Minister Faisal Sabzwari and Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, was also attended by Commerce Secretary Sualeh Faruqui, Chief Executive TDAP Zubair Motiwala, Senior Vice President Touseef Ahmed, Vice President Haris Agar, representatives from FPCCI and Shipping Lines along with senior officials from the State Bank and Federal Board of Revenue who, after threadbare discussions, agreed to provide relief, however, there are still a few issues that also need to be amicably resolved so that trade activities could continue smoothly in the larger interest of the country.'

He pointed out that in some cases for Sight LCs, formality for Financial Instrument (FI) has already been completed but the commercial banks were tarnishing the country's image by delaying release of documents which was resulting in unnecessary demurrage and detention charges in addition to jeopardizing bilateral trade relations. 'The State Bank has approved import funding from outside Pakistan to all those businesses who can avail such facilities whether through sister concerns or through those suppliers who can...