February 03, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 24, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 2: Caretaker Minister for Ports and Shipping Dr Fahim Ansari has said that there is no congestion at the Karachi Port and Port Qasim.

He was talking to a delegation of KCCI led by its president Shamim Ahmed Shamsi. He said that sufficient space was available for storing imported goods at these ports.

Responding to the complaint about the unilateral introduction of congestion surcharge by the foreign shipping lines and container terminals management, the minister said that he would apprise the caretaker prime minister about this development.

Dr Ansari said that there was no rush of imported cargo at these ports and the imposition of surcharge was unnecessary.

He assured the KCCI delegation that the government would take serious notice of any such move, which tends to increase cost of production of industrial goods.

Shamsi informed the minister that container terminal companies had imposed a penalty of Rs5,000 on A 20 feet container and Rs10,000 on A 40 feet container provided these are not cleared within 48 hours of surcharge.—APP