By an OGJ Correspondent
KARACHI, Aug. 26 -- A tanker-truck strike by members of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA), affecting more than 10,000 oil and products tanker trucks, entered its fifth day Monday in Pakistan.
More than 2,000 oil tanker trucks, refusing to load, remained parked in South Punjab in front of the Mehmood-Kot oil refinery-terminal near Muzaffargarh and the Sher Shah terminal at Multan.
The supply of gasoline, high-speed diesel, and kerosine oil upcountry remained suspended pending resolution of the standoff, while APOTOA also has threatened to stop deliveries to American forces in Afghanistan.
"We are observing (the) strike for our survival, because the oil companies are (planning) to use alternative means for the transportation and supply of oil," commented Mir Yousaf Shahwani, APOTOA chairman. "And unjust restrictions are being imposed on oil tanker (truck) owners, while a number of oil tankers were delisted after declaring them old and outmoded," he added.
APOTOA spokesman Jamshed Dasti said Pakistan State Oil Co. Ltd. (PSO) "is imposing new restrictions on the oil tanker owners every day and now plans to transport 70-80% of (its oil and products) through railway," sidelining as many as 10,000 tanker trucks.
A PSO spokesman, however, said PSO cannot continue to risk oil losses from robberies and pilferage and has decided to transport most of its oil via railway because it is the "cheapest and safest" way of guaranteeing supply.
He said some drivers had been caught selling products en route to its destination and then pretending to have met with an accident. And some dealers, he contends, were involved in the unlawful sale of products to stations nearest the refinery and pocketing the fees PSO paid for transportation each month.