Karachi Port Trust(KPT), in line with rising shipping demands, has enabled container terminals located at Karachi harbour to handle ships of draft 12.5 metres which is a quantum leap and is bound to provide enormous benefits to ship owners who could now avail discounts through deployment of mother vessels and can also take the benefits of economy of scales.
Karachi Port Trust is continuously working to achieve a depth of 14 metres which is the maximum for the vessels calling in the region. Besides this, KPT has taken the initiative to reduce port charges for regular caller vessels. KPT has also introduced a special tariff for Pakistani flag vessels and a special port tariff for employing Pakistani Officers and Crew.
The port authority has successfully negotiated an unprecedented reduction in the Karachi Dock Labour Board Cess charges by 20 percent. The evening gathering was hosted to mark the deepening of terminal draft to 12.5 metres which was well attended by official of various sector from ports and shipping industry.
Speaking on the occasion the chief guest, Chairperson KPT, Ms Nasreen Haque said that the current trend of revamping and modernising ports and port related facilities has become a global imperative. We at KPT are acutely aware of this phenomenon and endeavour diligently to keep pace with it, she added.
She stressed upon the singular interest which centres around the quick turnaround and ability to match the ever deepening draft of modern post Panamax ships and that KPT under her watch has along bee cognisant of this vital development which has become an integral part of our conceptual vision.
Presenting the statistics she said that the cargo handling by KPT in 2004-2005 was over 28 million tonnes while in 2009-2010 it rose to 41 million tonnes showing a whopping increase of more than 45 percent. Ms Haque said that KPT handled similarly 0.9 million tonnes of containers (TEU) in 2004-2005 which grew to over 1.47 million tonnes in 2009-2010.
She further said that our progress does not end here but the competent services and facilities has led to an increase in ship calls from 1768 ships in 2004-2005 to 2146 ships in 2009-2010 and similarly gross registered tonnage (GRT) of ships has increased from 34 to 55 million during the same period.
With regards to the deepening of Karachi Harbour, the chairperson termed the deepening of two metres as a milestone achievement and vowed to keep the trend in continuum foreseeing shipping demands. She said that this 12.5 metres depth would allow 300 metres length over all (LOA) ships to call on Karachi Port. She opined that in line with our set goals we are forging ahead and will be able to welcome deeper draft vessels in 6 weeks time which was well applauded by the shipping community gathered on the occasion to conclude the proceedings of the day.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.