Pakistan has decided to waive off demurrage charges on Afghanistan bound containers that are stuck on Pakistani soil.
Ministry of Maritime Affairs has prepared a summary according to which Pakistan will waive off demurrage charges on more than 25,000 Afghan cargo containers stuck on Pakistani soil.
The summary to waive off the demurrage charges amounting to around Rs 4 billion is scheduled for approval in a meeting of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) today.
The decision to waive off demurrage charges was made in the second meeting of customs task force on the issue of stranded containers of Executive Committee of Pakistan-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group in National Assembly Secretariat, Islamabad on July 22 last month.
The waive off of demurrage charges will be applicable to containers stuck at Pakistani soil from March 24,2020 to July 21, 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemics as Pak-Afghan border was mostly closed during this period.
Ministry of Maritime Affairs is expected to direct terminal operators including Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT), Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT), Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) and South Asia Port Terminal (SAPT) through KPT and PQA, to implement the waiving off of demurrage charges.
As per the details, the total number TEUs is 14,783+1, 70,43 20-feet mcontainers, 3,860 40-feet containers and nine 45-feet containers at KPT, KICT, PICT, SAPT and QICT. The total amount of demurrages has been calculated at Rs 3.98 billion.
