Business
9,000 goods containers held up for months by Pakistani officials
As Pakistan’s trade with Afghanistan continues to decline another problem has reared its head – that of about 9,000 containers loaded with goods worth more than $400 million stuck at Pakistani ports.
Bloomberg reported Monday that these containers have been held up for about five months. There are two reasons for this, the report stated.
Firstly customs officials are screening all the cargo instead of the five percent they used to check before the COVID-19 outbreak and secondly because not all trucks have GPS trackers – which are mandatory to stop theft and to ensure the containers don’t go missing along Taliban controlled routes.
However, the company tasked to install trackers refuted these claims.
Ghulam Nayab, commercial consular at the Afghanistan consulate in Karachi told Bloomberg that “transit consignments that landed in June are still lying at Karachi port,” said Nayab.
South Asia Pakistan Terminal, the nation’s biggest and deepest container terminal, alone has a backlog of 1,600 boxes, according to Rashid Jamil, chief executive officer of SAPT, a unit of Hutchison Port Holdings.
This, according to Bloomberg, is eroding Pakistan’s trade surplus to Afghanistan even further as a sharp decline has been recorded over the past three years.
In this time, Pakistani exports to Afghanistan have dropped more than 40 percent in the three years that ended in June, to $889 million, according to official data.
Bilateral trade stood at $1.01 billion last fiscal year, down more than 38 percent from $1.64 billion in fiscal 2018, reported Bloomberg.
Afghanistan meanwhile has tried to push for quicker clearance of these containers and also requested that Pakistan waive the demurrage and detention charges, which range from $120 to $200 a day, according to Nayab’s letter to the Pakistani customs office.
“Traders are losing millions of dollars because of shipping and port demurrages,” Nayab said.
Ariana Afghan Airlines has announced a reduction in cargo service rates on the Kabul–Delhi route as part of efforts to support Afghanistan’s trade and export sector.
The airline said the new cargo rate has been set at $1.20 per kilogram, a move intended to make air freight more affordable and accessible for Afghan traders and exporters.
Bakht-ur-Rahman Sharafat, head of Ariana Afghan Airlines, said the decision is expected to play a significant role in increasing exports of domestic products and strengthening commercial activity between Afghanistan and India.
He added that Ariana will continue to introduce new measures in the future to improve its services and better meet the needs of its customers.
Thirteen trade and investment memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth more than $100 million were signed between private sector representatives of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan during a conference held in Kabul on Saturday.
The conference, which brought together business leaders and officials from both countries, focused on expanding bilateral economic cooperation, increasing trade volume, and identifying new investment opportunities.
Speaking at the event, Nooruddin Azizi, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan, said economic relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan have gained notable momentum in recent months. He stressed that Afghanistan is actively working to strengthen regional trade ties and create a more favorable environment for investors.
Azizi added that Afghanistan offers significant investment potential, particularly due to its available workforce and emerging opportunities across multiple sectors, and is ready to welcome joint ventures with foreign partners.
Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan said the government has facilitated around $2 billion in investment across various sectors over the past year, reflecting growing investor interest in the country’s economy.
The Uzbek delegation also reiterated its commitment to expanding economic relations with Afghanistan, describing the agreements as an important step toward deeper regional cooperation.
Amanbay Orynbayev, head of Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan delegation, said his country places strong emphasis on long-term, transparent, and reliable economic partnerships. He encouraged Afghan traders to take advantage of joint investment opportunities to access new regional markets.
The Afghan private sector welcomed the agreements, expressing hope that increased trade engagement and business exchanges will further strengthen economic ties between the two neighboring countries.
Officials noted that the total value of agreements signed between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has now exceeded $1.5 billion. If implemented effectively, these commitments are expected to contribute to increased trade flows and broader economic growth in Afghanistan.
A new multimodal freight corridor linking China and Afghanistan via Turkmenistan has been officially launched, aiming to improve the speed and efficiency of overland cargo transportation across Central Asia.
According to the Turkmenistan Embassy in London, the country has become part of a newly established route designed to accelerate freight deliveries between China and Afghanistan.
The corridor, developed with the involvement of Uzbekistan Railways’ subsidiary Uztemiryulcontainer, covers approximately 7,400 kilometers and is expected to reduce transit time to around 30 days, improving overall logistics efficiency.
Under the new route, containers are transported by rail from China through the Altynkol station in Kazakhstan, continuing via Uzbekistan to a logistics hub in Bukhara. From there, cargo is transferred to road transport and moved across Turkmenistan before reaching Herat in Afghanistan.
Officials say the new system integrates rail and road networks into a unified logistics chain, making transport more predictable and efficient.
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