DEEPLY troubled as
Afghanistan is, the market is "definitely worth being in" and offers
"rich pickings", according to Felixstowe-based Seaport Freight
managing director Steve Parks.
"It isn't a big market
for Seaport, but it's one that the company has been in for years. And I see
[the restrictions] lifting because of the infrastructure being put back
in," he told London's International Freighting Weekly.
Good agents on the ground
are vital too, he said, and Seaport has one in Karachi with a branch in Kabul.
"The other issue is
that you have to have correct paperwork in place. We had one consignment that
took seven months to sort out. It was horrific - it wasn't the cargo, it was
just a case that someone hadn't done the paperwork, and it got stuck in the
backlog," said Mr Parks.
"The documentation must
be in the right place. Officials have different interpretations of the rules,
of course, so you have to have very good people on the spot who can get around
that.
"We ship from
Felixstowe to Karachi and clear in transit to the border," said Mr Parks.
"However, all along the route, freight can be stopped for any reason.
There could be huge queues of traffic at the border, because it is shut or customs
are overpowered with work, or there might be an ambush, or truck's across the
road and you can't get through," he said.
"Sometimes freight does
take an awfully long time, but we get it through in the end. If people are
shipping goods to Afghanistan, they have to appreciate what is happening
there," said Mr Parks.
"We do get irate people
saying 'it's been two months, why has my stuff not arrived yet?' But it isn't
like moving goods to the US. Problems are severe. Sometimes you are held up for
weeks and weeks," he said.
"You have to accept
there are going to be problems. You just need to plan things - and even then,
plans go awry."
As for the future, when NATO
forces pull out, he said: "I don't think it will change in terms of
unpredictability."
Source : HKSG, 11.02.12.
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