KARACHI, June 29: Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Babar Khan Ghauri has said that after a gap of over 10 years a private sector national flag ship has been registered under the new shipping policy.

Briefing the newsmen at PNSC Building here on Thursday the minister said that the ship – Mega-1 - after loading containers from Karachi Port had left for Dubai today.

He hoped that soon more ships would be registered under national flag as the new shipping policy prepared with the consultation of stakeholders had almost resolved basic issues and tax relief for the industry had been announced in the budget for 2006-07.

Mr Ghauri said that a number of irritants in the new shipping policy had been removed on the recommendation of a committee formed by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz last year.

Briefly giving salient features of the new policy the minister said that irritants such as restrictions over insurance had been removed and now shippers could avail insurance cover from any country. Another major demand for withdrawal of Capital Gain Tax on profits and locally registered sale of ships had also been met, he added.

“Now the shipping industry can mortgage their vessels with local banks and State Bank of Pakistan will encourage financial institutions to mortgage Pakistani flag ships as collateral for obtaining loans,” the minister disclosed.

He said under the new shipping policy the PNSC while chartering ships would give preference to national flag vessels if they were able to provide comparable services on competitive rates.

The minister said that the PNSC handled about 22pc of the country’s sea trade and the rest was available to be shared by the private sector. “With rapidly increasing volume of external trade the private ships will have enough cargo to handle,” he added.

Referring to India-Pakistan Shipping Protocol, the minister said that Pakistan had already approved the amended protocol. “We are looking forward to get the amended protocol from India which is lying with the cabinet for approval”. After formal signing of the protocol vessels of both the countries would able to lift third country cargo from each others’ ports.

Mr Ghauri said seafarers serving on Pakistani flag vessels had been exempted from income tax in the new shipping policy if they worked on the vessels for 182 days in a tax year.

Similarly, the minister said that there would be no restriction by State Bank on ship owners for opening of foreign exchange accounts in the country and to receive and transfer funds. “The central bank has also been asked to ensure that clearance procedures of these accounts are made simple and business-friendly,” he added.

Answering a query the minister said that the ship, Mega-I, was registered on Wednesday (June 28) and owned by M/s Megafeeder (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi. The ship was built in Canada in 1980 and reconditioned in South Korea.

He further said that there would be no customs duty on import of a ship. However, filing of Goods Declaration (GD) was a mandatory requirement under the Customs Act for all imported goods.

This provision, the minister said, is universally applicable to ensure proper documentation.

Replying another question Mr Ghauri said the PNSC for the last three years had been making profits and this year it had posted a profit of Rs3bn. The said the corporation had recently purchased five vessels and was planning to purchase two more ships.

He further said that any private sector shipping company wanted to start Hajj service it would be given license in 24 hours. Similarly, he said ferry service would immediately start once both India and Pakistan sign the amended shipping protocol.