KARACHI, Jan 17: The Pakistan Ship Agents Association (PSAA) has taken strong exception to the police act of unilaterally taking away shipping companies' containers for blocking roads or cordoning off areas for security purposes.

In a communiqué to the federal and Sindh governments' functionaries, including IG Sindh Syed Kamal Shah and Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui, the chairman PSAA, Mohammed A Rajpar, pointed out that this was hampering the smooth working of shipping companies reporting at the ports.

He said the police take away empty containers without prior notice to the shipping lines, which add up to the shortage of containers meant for carrying back export cargo from the country.

The PSAA chief said that an economic boom had already begun and the first half of the current year was expected to experience a tremendous rise in containerized exports.

The quota free era starting from Jan 1, 2005 under the WTO is going to enhance the country's exports throughout the year; therefore, the availability of containers with shipping lines had become more important in order to ensure that exporters get their due share in the world market of textiles and clothing.

Mr Rajpar asked the IG Sindh to immediately issue directives to concerned officials to return all containers to their respective shipping lines, who needed them urgently for export cargo. He further urged the police to desist from such action in future, saying it was causing hardship for shipping lines and country's exports.