KARACHI: The federal minister for ports and shipping on Friday hinted at bringing port charges at the regional level.

Speaking at a ceremony organised to commemorate the handling of one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers at the Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT), Kamran Michael said the ports and shipping formed the backbone of the national economy and the government was making efforts to modernise and corporatise the sector.

With a modest start of handling around 15,793 TEUs a year, the KICT today has achieved handing of 10 million containers over a period of 17 years since its inception in 1998, he added.

On the occasion, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Chairman Shafqat Jawed highlighted the vision of KPT to become transhipment hub of the region through commencement of operations at South Asia Pakistan Terminals located at newly established deep water container port project at Keamari.

He added that Karachi port was using latest technology in handling dredgers, tugboats, pilot boats, floating cranes and barges. The port was pursing the market dynamics and trends evolving in the global maritime world, he said.

During the previous fiscal year, the port handled 43.42m tonnes of dry bulk cargo and 1.72m TEUs, a growth of 8.4pc and 7.5pc over the preceding year, the KPT chief added.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2015

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