KARACHI, Aug 2: A container carrier, ‘CS Champion’, shut out around 250 to 300 containers on Wednesday, at Port Qasim in a bid to catch up with a berthing schedule at next port in India, exporters said.

“As a result of this act Letters of Credit of many exporters whose cargoes were scheduled to be loaded in the vessel expired resulting in huge financial loss,” lamented Shabir Ahmed, chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters’ Association (PBEA).

The waiting time of the vessel at the Port Qasim was for twelve hours only but due to heavy load of import cargo much of the time was consumed in unloading leaving little time for loading export cargo, he added.

Consequently, the vessel, in order not to lose its berth schedule on the next port where, due to congestion, the vessel would have to wait for four to five days, rushed and sailed out without carrying export cargo.

Although the customs authorities at PQA after working the whole night cleared all the necessary documents for the cargo but unfortunately it was not possible for the authorities to ask the vessel to carry its committed cargo.

Since the exporters could not get bill of ladings (B/L), therefore, they could not get payment from their banks, which resulted into liquidity problem for the exporters. He said due to delay the buyers may ask for discount or even demand that the cargo should be airlifted at the cost of exporters.