Textile exporters concerned over goods transport owners strike

FAISALABAD: Textile exporters have shown concern over suspension of cargo traffic due to countrywide strike of goods transport owners.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association chairman Sohail Pasha said that the strike had halted the export activities putting millions of dollars export orders on stake. He said that textile exporters were unable to meet international commitments whereas failure to perform would lead to disputes, loss of customers and market share as well as damaging Pakistan’s reputation as a reliable supplier.

He apprehended that huge foreign orders were feared to be cancelled due to ongoing goods transport owners strike and this would result in huge loss for exporters and the economy as well.

A large number of export shipments ready to be shipped as per deadline given by the foreign buyers but were unable to reach the seaports in time, resulting in the vessel sailing away without the consignment, he added.

If the strike prolongs further, this would lead to great loss to the exporters, fearing cancellation of vital orders, he warned. Under this situation, textile exporters were unable to meet international commitments and failure to perform will lead to loss of wide scale customers and market share, he feared.

Entire textile chain was highly perturbed and economic activities had come to a halt in export sector, he said and added that the goods transport carriers strike had ceased business activities as the goods were not reaching the ports. If the situation would continue, our exports could fall horribly, he apprehended.

We had raw material in stores to continue production for next few days and if the goods transport owners strike prolongs, it would create severe difficulties, he added. National economy relies heavily on textile exports and a crisis like situation was posing serious threat to the viability of the industry.