Pay up or face lockdown, NATO truckers warn cargo firms

Containers association demands payment from freight companies۔

KARACHI: The truckers plying the Nato supply route have warned of laying siege to the offices of freight forwarding companies over the non-payment of “detention charges” and other dues.

The warning came at a meeting of the Containers Action Committee, a 12-member body formed to discuss the truckers’ issues with freight forwarders – cargo companies having contracts to transport Nato goods from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

“They [cargo firms] have to pay the truckers Rs4,000 per day as detention charges and [an additional] Rs100,000 per truck as the vehicles’ maintenance charges and insurance,” said Waheed Mughal, a member of the Containers Action Committee, while talking to The Express Tribune. “[Otherwise] the protests will continue till our demands are met.”

On Wednesday, hundreds of truck owners and drivers gathered at the Shireen Jinnah Colony to discuss the issue of the payment of their dues. They refused to transport Nato goods unless their problems were not resolved by the freight forwarding companies.

“We will surround the offices of the freight forwarders if they did not contact us by 3pm on Thursday (today),” warned Mughal.

The Containers Action Committee will hold a meeting Thursday (today) with the chairman of All Pakistan Custom Bounded Career Association and other contractors, after which they will decide their future strategy.

More than 1,500 trailers laden with containers and equipment for Nato forces in Afghanistan have been parked across the country since November 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.