KARACHI: To facilitate the business community, all shipping companies will remain operational every Saturday from July 20 for one month to issue Delivery Orders (DO).

This was decided in a meeting with businessmen, chaired by Karachi Port Trust (KPT) chairman Syed Syedain Raza Zaidi, in pursuance of the prime minister’s recent decision to establish a regulatory authority for the shipping sector.

The KPT chief said that this decision, which would be reviewed after one month, could be extended further, depending on its impact and the business community’s needs.

According to a press release of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), all participants in the meeting agreed that a regulatory authority must be formed for the shipping sector.

The previously formulated Logistics Service Providers Regulatory Authority (LSPRA) Bill, which has been pending since 2013, should be revisited after consultation with all stakeholders in the presence of Chairman KPT.

It was decided that the LSPRA Bill would be revisited next week in another meeting chaired by the KPT chairman. Upon reaching a consensus, the draft bill would be forwarded for approval.

On issuance of pre-arrival Delivery Orders, as is done in case of Goods Declarations (GDs), Colle­ctor Customs (Enfor­c­em­ent Ports) Omair Shafiq also agreed that this can be done and that there is absolutely no issue in providing a pre-arrival DO facility to the business community.

The meeting also assured that the decision in this regard will be taken in the next few days for issuance of pre-arrival DO.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2024