Strike by goods truckers ends on 10th day

KARACHI: Goods transporters on Wednesday called off a 10-day strike in Karachi after authorities apparently accepted their demands, including free movement of their heavy vehicles, industry officials said.

“The transporters have withdrawn the strike. Good transport services will be restored forthwith,” said Malik Shahzad, Chairman Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance.On March 31, the Sindh High Court banned the movement of heavy traffic within the city during the day.  Truckers were demanding substitute routes to transport goods.

Since transporters refused to carry goods from the ports to the markets after the ban, the containers stood full at the Karachi International Container Terminal and Pakistan International Container Terminal.

Imdad Naqvi of All Pakistan Transporters Association said the strike has been called off after assurance from the ‘provincial government’ that the transporters had been allowed to operate their vehicles as per previous schedule. “All routes have been allowed to move the goods during 11:00pm to 6:00am,” Naqvi said.

Since the Sindh High Court’s decision of banning the transport movement in city areas during the day time is intact, stakeholders declined to give details of the deal between the transporters and authorities.

Sources in the Sindh government said the provincial authorities did not intervene in the matter, however, provincial Governor Mohammad Zubair had held a few meetings with the transporters and assured them to resolve the issue.

Noor Khan Niazi, president Sindh Goods Carriers Association, said they had ended the strike on the assurance of authorities and goods movement would soon start from the ports.

Industry officials said over 50,000 containers of both imports and exports were stuck at different terminals. Export goods were not transported to the ports, hindering the delivery of orders. Fruit and vegetable exports were also affected. Besides, the imported raw materials also sat unused in the containers. Two cargo ships moved away from the port on Tuesday after not getting a place to unload consignments.

“From Wednesday evening, we have started carrying goods from ports for the city and for the upcountry,” said Naqvi of the All Pakistan Transporters Association.Trade bodies said goods’ transporters strike rendered a colossal loss of at least Rs200 billion to the industry due to the hiccups in transportation of trade consignments.

Meanwhile, Jawed Bilwani, chairman All Pakistan Exporters Association, said that decision of the Sindh High Court for banning the goods’ transport in city areas had not been challenged in the Supreme Court, as decided earlier. But the association had moved an application in the Sindh High Court requesting goods movement in the city areas.

Since the decision of banning the heavy goods vehicles in the city areas remained intact, it is a question how the transporters would operate,” Bilwani said.

More than 80 percent of port freight in Pakistan moves by road, and truckers had benefited from a stable economy which encouraged demand for transport of imported finished goods as well raw materials for infrastructure projects.While the truckers’ strike halted supplies, it was expected to have only a limited impact on muted inflation.