US seeks to expand container pre-screening in Pakistan

THE United States aims to expand its containers pre-screening arrangements in a bid to speed up the clearance of Pakistani export shipments at US ports, according to US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson.

Such a programme would boost the volume of export containers handled from 46,000 containers a year in 2009 to 146,000 boxes this year, she said in a recent speech at the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), reports the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

"However, this expansion plan was facing hurdles due to delays in the issue of visas to American inspectors who will train Pakistani employees working at Port Qasim," she said.

The government in Pakistan has also not yet apportioned land at Karachi Port for the expansion programme where another 100,000 containers would be screened annually.

As a result, she warned, the proposed screening expansion programme may "shrink or even lapse this year costing Pakistani exporters millions of dollars in security screening costs," the report said.

(Source: www.schednet.com)