Pakistan - Ports

Pakistan shares a 1,200 kilometres long coast line with the Arabian Sea - a mid sea which joins the the strategic oil line of Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. On it lie the Karachi Port which has been serving this part of the erstwhile Indian subcontinent and later Pakistan on its creation in 1947. However, owing to the growing needs of the country, there was a need to develop other smaller coastal ports into major cargo handling ports. Beside Karachi, Pasni, Jiwani, Gadani, Ormara and Gwadar are other ports which are being developed into world class ship handling centres. Of these Gwadar is the latest development, which is almost completed and recently in December 2008, it has started handling shipping operations with the arrival of three urea laded ships.

A)  Karachi Port Trust :-

Karachi Port lies on a strategic point along the 600 miles long coastline which stretches from the straits of Hormuz to the border with India. It has an ideal location and well-developed connections with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Western China and well deserves the sobriquet, gateways to the region. KPT has consistently maximized this potential with enlightened policies.

Karachi port provide 24/7 safe navigation to the port traffic includes tankers, modern container vessels, bulk carriers and general cargo ships up to 75,000 DWT. The port has 30 dry cargo and 3 liquid cargo handling berths including a privately operated container terminal – Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) which is fully equipped with all modern technologies. Karachi port is facilitating around 1600 ships annually while there is enough capacity to handle more cargo as the current occupancy is around 45% only.

During FY 2015, KPT handled 43,422 million tons of import and export as compared to 41,350 million previous year. During July-March FY 2016, the total exports and the volume of Cargo handled was 36,516 million tons.

KPT consists of two wharves; the East and West Wharf. East wharf has 17 multipurpose berths and West wharf has 13 berths. Each of the wharves has two dedicated container terminal and oil piers to handle liquid cargo. KPT operation comprised upon 11.5 kilometers long approach channel, a depth of 12 meters and a turning basin of 600 meters. KPT provides safe navigation for vessels up to 75000 metric tons deadweight (DWT).

The port is handling about 650,000 TEUs and 26 million tons of cargo per annum which includes:

Karachi Port has two container terminal named as Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT), both are operated by the private sector on BOT basis. The port is also equipped with backed up system with good transit and storage areas, with rail and road services for handling, storage and clearance of cargo. 

Cargo Handled at Karachi Port