February 20, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 18, 1423

KARACHI, Feb 19: Freight for all cargo to the European continent will go up by around 30 per cent from March 1, according to an announcement of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ceylon Conference (PBCC), which is a group of major container shipping lines.

Major container carriers, serving from Pakistan to UK, North Continent, Mediterranean and Scandinavian destinations will raise freight rates across the board.

As per the advice received by local agents from the PBCC shipping lines here on Tuesday, the member lines have taken this decision under rate restoration measures, which will hike the freight rates by $250 for 20 feet container and $500 per 40 feet container with effect from March 1, 2003.

This would mean that impact of this freight hike would be around 30 per cent over the current rates. Presently, the PBCC lines are charging $900 for 20’ container and $1700 per 40’ container.

Taking strong exception of the sudden hike in freight rates the exporters have condemned unilateral decision of the PBCC and said this will further burden their exports which are already suffering from many heavy input costs.

They were also critical of the government for not taking any action on such decisions which are damaging to country’s exports and say that there is no freight regulatory body which could check such unilateral decisions.

In the absence of effective and viable national carrier in the public as well as in private sector the haulage of country’s external trade worth around $20 billion is at the mercy of foreign shipping companies, lamented former chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) Shabir Ahmed.

Despite the fact that these foreign shipping companies who get business of over one billion dollars in freight from Pakistan, dictate their terms and conditions and also frequently raise freight charges which damages country’s exports, he added.

With the rupee appreciation and recent increase in polyester fibre prices exporters were already having tough time from their competitors from countries like India, China and Bangladesh.

Shabir urged the ministry of communication to take notice of such unilateral decisions of the shipping companies and should set up an advisory body having representation from exporters and shipping companies to grant approval for freight hikes.