Canadian soldiers stand outside their tents inside the Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan Tuesday Nov. 28, 2006. Logistical chaos on the ground at Pakistan's largest seaport along with truckers' demands for more money mean hundreds of tonnes of Canadian military equipment remain stranded in Afghanistan despite the re-opening of the border to NATO traffic after almost eight months. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-David Guttenfelder

Logistical chaos on the ground at Pakistan's largest seaport along with truckers' demands for more money mean hundreds of tonnes of Canadian military equipment remain stranded in Afghanistan despite the opening of the border to NATO traffic after a seven-month closure.

The first truck carrying NATO supplies finally crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan Thursday but 446 sea containers of Canadian Forces materiel stored in Kabul and Kandahar won't be moving any time soon, according to the contracted freight company.

"Things are very chaotic," said Alda Rodrigues, president of Montreal-based A.J. Maritime.

"Nothing is happening right now — it's quite a nightmare."

Moving the "low priority" equipment depends on Pakistani truckers, who first have to clear a backlog of some 2,500 NATO Afghanistan-bound containers at the port in Karachi.

Before that can happen, however, the Pakistanis first have to sort out issues with payments, demurrage, and customs-clearance, the chairman of Karachi's Port Qasim said Thursday.

Adding to the headache are demands for more money from the truckers idled by Pakistan's closure of the border, which came in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani border troops.

Pakistan relented after the U.S. government apologized this week.

Now, concerned their lucrative work will soon be drying up as the NATO mission winds down, the truckers are demanding as much as 25 per cent more — potentially adding several thousand dollars to the cost of retrieving a container from Afghanistan.

The Canadian Forces gear — left over from the lengthy combat mission to Afghanistan — comprises "lower priority" materiel such as tires, parts, tents, barbed wire, forklifts and engineering equipment kept in secure storage, according to the Department of National Defence.

High priority items, such as armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition, had already been returned to Canada by air.

The department said it welcomed the border reopening as a "positive development" and was watching the situation closely.

"We are looking forward to repatriating Canadian Forces materiel from Afghanistan at the earliest opportunity," spokeswoman Lauri Sullivan said from Ottawa.

Rodrigues said it would likely be weeks or a month before there's movement of the goods to Karachi for shipping to Canada.

"I can't dictate how fast the trucks get into Afghanistan," said Rodrigues, whose company has been contracting with the Canadian military since 2006. "It's very difficult to keep to timelines."

Canada is not the only country anxiously eyeing the situation. The American military, for example, has more than 4,000 stranded containers and the British more than 2,000.

For now, however, there are few trucks available to make the perilous 1,500 kilometre run from Kabul or the almost 1,000 kilometre trip from Kandahar to Karachi.

Insurgents on both sides of the border attacked the transport convoys before the border closure and are again threatening attacks in the volatile region.

Also adding to the woes has been theft from containers — discovered only once they reached Montreal — with gear replaced by rocks and sand. The Defence Department has only said it's investigating, while offering few details on what was stolen or who might be responsible.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave in to Pakistan's demands for an apology.

"We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military," Clinton said in a statement.

As a result, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border officially opened Wednesday.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2012