After a marathon meeting late on Monday night, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Chairman Jawed Hanif Khan amicably resolved the dispute between the Pakistan Ship Agents Association and transporters over the levy of charges. This was stated by a spokesman of the KPT on Tuesday. He said that in view of the emerging dispute between shipping companies and the transporters, a meeting was called by the KPT Chairman at the Head Office on Monday night. The meeting was attended by Pakistan Ship Agents Association members and transporters, apart from the operations team of Karachi Port Trust. The spokesman said that the purpose of the meeting was to resolve the dispute and the efforts of KPT led by Chairman KPT. He said that it was decided among the participants of the meeting that from 6th February 2013 onward Pakistan Ship Agent Association members will start collection of empty Lading Order/Lading Order (LO/LO) charges at their offices and no cash transaction will be carried over by transporters at the terminals. With regards to the export empty LO/LO charges, it was discussed and demanded that LO/LO charges will be taken by the shipping companies at the time of issuance of Bill of Lading.
The shipping agent representatives were of the opinion that they require proper authorisation from their members and for this matter they opined with confidence that the matter can be resolved. Moreover, it was decided that the understanding reached here will be applicable on fresh import / export containers from 6th February 2013.
