Pak-Afghan war 2025: Hundreds of containers stranded at ports, costs Rs.1bn daily

Recent cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have also badly disrupted the Afghan Transit trade, causing losses of billions of rupees.

Due to recent clashes between Pak Afghan armed forces, at least 291containers are stranded at the Karachi Port Trust and the Port Muhammad Bin Qasim.

The President of Pak-Afghan Chamber, Junaid Makda, has stated that 500 containers are stuck at the Chamman border, 400 at the Torkham border, 100 containers at the Ghulam Khan, and another 100 containers were also halted at Khalarchi.

He further told that warehouses at the Torkham border are now full and a severe backlog has been created, and goods unloaded from ships cannot be cleared further. As a result, no additional cargo can be offloaded.

He noted that hundreds of containers loaded on ships are awaiting to be unloaded at ports, while the goods unloaded from ships were also stranded.

It is to be remembered that under the Afghan Transit Trade, 1,000 containers are transporting across the borders daily. due to trade standstill the traders have been forced to sell perishable items at half prices.

Junaid Makda revealed that one billion rupees are being lost daily due to the closure of the Afghan transit trade.

The stranded goods of Afghan transit include electronics, electrical machinery, home appliances, home textiles, confectionery, chocolates, medicines and edible oil, among other goods. In four days, traders on both sides have lost billions of rupees.

Read Also: Pak-Afghan war 2025: Pakistan suspends Afghan Transit Trade: FBR

Earlier, on Thursday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ordered the suspension of Afghan Transit Trade transportation from Karachi ports until further notice due to recent clashes at the Durand Line.

An important meeting was held at the Directorate of Transit Trade Headquarters, Customs House Karachi, chaired by the Director General (DG) Afghan Transit Trade, with participation from the Directors of Afghan Transit Quetta and Peshawar via Zoom.

Following the meeting, Customs General Order 98.2025 was issued, stating that the transportation of Afghan Transit Trade has been suspended indefinitely due to the lack of storage capacity at the Quetta and Peshawar customs stations, which are already overcrowded with containers.