Pakistan's first fully automated dry bulk cargo terminal FAP at PQA has created a record by discharging 16,500 metric tons of canola oilseeds in a day, comfortably bettering the previous one day record of about 9,500 metric tons achieved at Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
MV Panagiotis D carrying about 55,000 tons of canola docked at the 11.5m draft dedicated and purposed built jetty at FAP, and the cargo of oilseed was the largest ever in one vessel to dock at any port in Pakistan.
The FAP terminal has the ability to dock vessels with 14 meters of draft but the current draft is restricted to 11.5m of draft by Port Qasim Authority (PQA).
The feat was made possible due to the terminal being built on a 9-hectare facility, which is capable of catering to Panamax size vessels up to 80,000 DWT. The terminal can handle over four million metric tons of dry cargo and provides handling of import and export cargo complemented by bagging stations and storage facilities to exporters and importers at the port.
PQA FAP, inaugurated on October 26, 2010, is Pakistan's first state of the art and dry bulk cargo handling and storage terminal. The objective of this terminal is to operate and handle bulk cargoes at PQA including all types of fertiliser, urea and fertilizer raw materials.-PR