ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Ship Agents Association (PSAA) has sought government’s intervention for the resumption of duty-free imports of spare parts for visiting vessels.

According to a PSAA official, it has been a tradition that if a visiting ship develops any technical fault on Pakistan’s seaports, spare parts were imported without any duty.

This was the practice at KPT, Port Qasim and Gwadar, the three international seaports, said the official.

“After arriving at the port, the imported part was taken to the ship under the supervision of the preventive collectorate of Customs department,” the PSAA officer-bearer added.

However, this was a tradition and no provision in the rules to allow duty-­free imports of spare parts for the visiting ships. Now the Customs authorities have put a stop to it, the PSAA claimed.

The association has written to the chief collector of Customs (South) and member Customs (Operation) and requested the maritime affairs ministry to intervene.

According to PSAA, duty-free imports were needed to ensure continuity in Pakistan’s seaborne trade by allowing clearance of ship’s spare parts in transit of respective foreign shipping lines.

The letter to the ministry stated that PSAA members were “deeply perturbed due to the sudden discontinuation of clearance of ship’s spares in transit by Pakistan Customs” which, it said, would “hamper Pakistan’s seaborne trade that is heavily dependent on foreign shipping lines”.

The letter written by PSAA Secretary General Tahir Hussain stated that this was a serious issue at a time when foreign shipping lines were already considering cutting services in Pakistan due to reduced cargo volumes.

“Stopping clearance of spares in transit intended for the smooth operation of ships will exacerbate the situation.”

Talking to Dawn, Mr Hussain said duty-free spare parts were provided to the ships for two reasons: to speed up the imports as documentation delayed the availability of critical spare parts and to facilitate international shipping lines.

“The sudden change of policies by Customs officials was unfair and even if the duties were imposed, the amount collected by the government would be negligible but it would hurt the image of Pakistan,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2023