KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Idrees have appealed to Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Shehbaz Sharif and Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail to issue orders to immediately release the stuck up containers at the port and waive the demurrage charges to compensate for the losses of the importers.

KCCI has strongly denounced the non-clearance of containers at the ports subsequent to the ban imposed on luxury items.

The ban was imposed on 85 categories of luxury items vide SRO 598 (i)/2022 which was issued on May 19, 2022.

President KCCI Muhammad Idrees claimed that around 800-900 containers which were already booked before the issuance of SRO 598, got stuck at the ports as customs authorities were not clearing them.

Importers are facing additional hit of hefty demurrages which is causing severe distress among them. It has also caused shortage of several items in the market which needs to be addressed urgently.

They urged immediate resolution of this serious issue.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022