KPT planning to raise pilots' salary

The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) is planning to raise the salary package of its pilots in line with global shipping standards to attract qualified applicants, officials told Business Recorder on Thursday. Terming pilots' job difficult, officials said that their salaries were much below their colleagues working in harbours around the world, because of which qualified persons were reluctant to join KPT.
"Despite repeated advertisements in newspapers for qualified persons for the job, the KPT received no response because of lower salary (package) it was offering to the candidates. Global harbours and shipping lines are paying them in dollars," officials said. At present, they said, the KPT had some 18 pilots, six of them with enough experience to steer all kinds of ships into harbour. Of the six, three were permanent employees of the KPT while three were serving the trust on contract basis, officials added.
They said the pilots should have the qualification of 'master mariner', besides having served as master mariner and chief officer. After their appointments, they should also have worked at a harbour for six years, steering ships. "Pilots are 19-grade officers," they said. They said the increase in pilots' salary package had become inevitable because of the significant growth in harbour activity.
"Keeping in view the rising shipping traffic at the harbour, the KPT needs to acquire services of more pilots," they said, adding that globally there had been no age limits for the pilots to join services. "At the KPT there were some above 60 years," they said.
In July last year, the pilots had gone on a week-long strike after failing to press their demands for salary increase, hurting the seaport's shipping activities. The strike had also sent scores of vessels to the country's second largest seaport - Port Qasim.