20-metre dredging target set for Karachi port

Karachi Port Trust (KPT) will dredge its port by 20 metres from the existing 12.2 metres, official sources told Business Recorder here on Friday. Trailer Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD), manufactured by IHC, Holland, for the KPT, was launched in the Dutch waters on Friday, sources said.
They said that the dredger , named "Abul," would be handed to KPT in December.
Having nine million cubic metre per annum dredging capacity, the dredger would be primarily used for deepening channel to accommodate deeper-draft-vessels.
Sources said that the TSHD would also have a survey boat, which would monitor the performance of new machinery. TSHD, the sources said, would also be used on secondary basis for maintaining the depth of channel, which currently stands at 12.2 metres, to avoid "ship grounding". Sources said the KPT, which was responsible for providing draft facilities to the ships, would get the job done in different phases and in the first phase, a 16-metre dredging target had been set to deepen the channel.
They lamented that no vessel with more than 12.2-metre draft could enter the Karachi port, which was not only causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer, but was also giving the international seaport a reputational damage across the world.
The process would, however, take years to meet the 20-metre target set by the port giant as the process of dredging was technically complicated and time-consuming, said the sources. They, however, said that the channel, which was 11.5-kilometre long, would be made 13.5 metre deep by 2009 after the completion of capital dredging project.
The new dredger, which would cost KPT 50.73 million euros, would revolutionise the dredging work in Karachi port, as it would be able to work on all types of underwater soil, they said. TSHD, with a waterjet having 110 nozzles and draghead, a heavy and complicated machine with sharp-edged teeth, would be able to dislodge the hard soil, sources said.
The new dredger, which will have an 8,400-ton hopper capacity, would be operated by the crew, a chief engineer and a captain, from Holland for one-year and then it would be transferred to the KPT, they said.
Sources said that the new machine, equipped with modern facilities, would also be helpful in materialising the development of 10 deep draught berths at Keamari Groyne as a new channel would severely be needed to further the 1,087 million- dollar project. Presently, the KPT has four dredgers, including backhoe dredger, bucket dredger, the 26-year-old TSHD and a 1965-made cutter suction, which is out of order, they said.