The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has urgently called on the government to form an emergency task force to tackle escalating bottlenecks at ports and customs, which are severely hampering the textile industry’s operations and export performance.
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In a letter to Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Syed Tauqeer Hussain Shah, APTMA Chairman Kamran Arshad described the situation as “deeply alarming and rapidly deteriorating,” warning that daily delays are causing exporters to lose orders, workers to face job risks, and the nation to forfeit valuable foreign exchange.
Systemic Delays and Inefficiencies Highlighted APTMA pointed to prolonged clearance times averaging 10 days—far exceeding the global standard of 2-3 days—due to excessive scanning under the National Logistics Cell regime, multi-step examinations, and grounding of containers.
Issues include indiscriminate scrutiny without risk-based targeting, overlapping checks by multiple agencies like Customs Intelligence and Post Clearance Audit, and failures in the faceless assessment system, leading to arbitrary valuations, disputes, and technical glitches in WeBOC.
Terminal congestion at facilities like KICT and SAPT, equipment shortages, and delays from the Plant Protection Department for key inputs such as cotton and jute further compound the problems, resulting in demurrage, detention charges, and supply chain disruptions.
Call for Immediate Task Force Intervention The association proposed an emergency task force involving the Federal Board of Revenue, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, APTMA, and trade representatives to resolve these issues within 30 days.
It emphasized the need for mandatory service timelines at terminals with penalties for non-compliance, WTO-compliant risk-based processes, and elimination of overlapping regulations to restore efficiency.
APTMA stressed that the textile sector, contributing around 60% of national exports and employing over 15 million directly, faces irreversible damage if delays persist, risking permanent order losses to competitors like Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Turkey.
These challenges come amid broader pressures on exporters, with cumulative monthly losses in millions from penalties, production halts, and higher costs. The plea underscores the critical role of timely customs and port facilitation in sustaining Pakistan’s export growth trajectory and industrial competitiveness.