KARACHI: Some shipping lines have either withdrawn port congestion surcharge or have deferred the collection for 15 days, the Feder­ation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) was informed on Wednesday.

In a press note, the FPCCI appreciated the decision of withdrawal of surcharge, but also warned those shipping lines that have yet to make a decision in the regard.

The FPCCI reminded the shipping lines that any kind of extra charges at the port of destination were illegal no matter what name was given to them.

The FPCCI said it was monitoring the situation and urged the shipping lines to stop collecting the extra charges at the destination port.

The FPCCI that if the remaining shipping lines failed to withdraw surcharge, it would ask all the affected importers to stop taking delivery of their containers from Thursday (today).

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2017