KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Maritime Affair Mehmood Moulvi to take up the matter of difficulties created by the shipping lines, a statement said.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said that the shipping lines are implementing the late Bill of Lading (B/L) pickup charges of $200 after every 7 days, meaning with each additional week an unfair charge of $200 is added, which has never happened before.

The shipping lines are overbooking and issuing more bookings than the available space on the vessels due to which cargo shut out has increased, he lamented.

HMI Logistics Director Hussain Ali Ratnani said that the shipping companies are charging export detention and port damage charges on cargo shut out due to overbooking.

Zeeshan Nazim, a leading exporter of commodities, said that the shipping lines are imposing a penalty of $1,000 on the cancellation of export bookings, adding that some lines are imposing it on spot bookings while the charges to get amendment on the next vessel are $400.

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) exporters complained that the shipping lines have started charging sea priority surcharge or shipping guarantee charges other than freight charges, from $500 to $2,000 on guaranteed loading.

The Unisame Council said that the exports will suffer if such malpractices continue and the SMEs will be the worst sufferers.

The Council requested the SAPM to convene an urgent meeting of the shipping lines and warn them to discontinue such practices and not take the undue advantage of container shortage caused by empty shipping containers to China and other countries causing difficulties for the shippers.