KARACHI: The goods transporters’ strike continues on the ninth day on Tuesday (today). It is feared that there is no space available at the port to accommodate more containers.
The Karachi International Container Terminal stands full of the goods transporters are refusing to transport from the ports to the markets.
If the strike continues, people in the country may be faced with a shortage of food items. To add to this, the dispatching of orders as per the schedule is being hindered which is affecting the export of goods also.
The imported raw material also lies in containers at the ports which is not being transported to factories, inflicting losses worth billions for manufacturers.
“Goods in thousands of containers are in factories, as the capacity of warehouses has been exhausted,” said an exporter, adding irrevocable damage could be caused if the issue is not resolved on an immediate basis.
Experts from across the country worth Rs48 billion are said to have been halted due to the strike, with businessmen facing losses worth millions every day.
On Saturday, the Sindh High Court banned the entry of heavy traffic in the port city which is persisting. Transporters have entered into a strike to protest against the ban disallowing entry of heavy vehicles into the city.
Traders, industrialists, and manufacturers have all severely criticised the strikers for causing a severe bottleneck in the supply of basic necessities and other imported goods that sit idle in the containers on the port, which, in turn, have resulted in export consignments being unable to get loaded and dispatched.