The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) hiked the port fees with immediate effect following an absence of over two decades.
According to a statement from KPT, the decision to raise the port fees was made since, over the last 20 years, the costs of operations, maintenance, and modernization have greatly increased due to the ongoing inflation and the strengthening of the US dollar.
As per the press release, a tariff adjustment was required in order to take into account these considerations, respond to changing market demands, and deal with infrastructural issues.
In comparison to 1994, the wet charges decreased in 2003, 2006, and 2010. Despite the fact that inflation has greatly increased, the wet costs in the amended SRO 2023 for berthing, port dues, and pilotage are still lower than they were in 1994, it claimed.
“A new slab of gross registered tonnage (GRT) 45,001 to 90,000 has been introduced, while capping on Port Dues and Berthing charges on vessels of over 90,000 GRT has also been included to reduce the impact on vessels with high GRT calling at Karachi Port,” it emphasised.
The KPT has decided to either maintain or slightly raise the tariff structure for commodities like edible oil, food, grain, wheat, flour, seeds, fertilizers, meal, pulses, poultry feeds, etc. in order to mitigate any significant price increases, even though the increase in dry charges may have a minimal impact on some sectors.
To encourage more shipping, KPT has lowered the fee for transshipment through the port of Karachi.
