Port congestion to stay for a month: govt looks at Gwadar for TCP wheat handling

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI (October 18 2008): The federal government on Friday announced short and long term measures, including the constitution of a watchdog, improvement of transportation network and an advanced planning to work out transportation cost for taking the wheat ships to Gwadar Port to clear the trade-damaging port congestion, which would persist for over a month.

A "Daily Monitoring Committee" (DMC), comprising representatives from the four provinces, ministries of food, agriculture and livestock, finance, commerce, three ports and other concerned departments would directly monitor handling and transportation of wheat to its final destination, Secretary Ports and Shipping Saleem Khan told Business Recorder.

DMC would be chaired by the TCP chairman, he added. He said to ensure a quick and smooth dispatch of the imported essential commodity the government would mobilise railways, National Logistic Cell (NLC) and private truckers as a short-term measure.

In the long run, the secretary said, the government was preparing an advanced plan to work out transportation cost for accommodating the expected wheat ships at Gwadar Port, where the traffic is one-sided. Khan was positive when asked if the government was intending to use the Gwadar Port, which is situated in the volatile Balochistan province, within next few days.

"Yes! We are working out the transportation cost and would use Gwadar Port as soon as we finish it," said the official. It may be recalled that the newly constructed port, which lacks in hinterland connectivity, had hardly managed to safely berth a Panamax bulk carrier, M/v POS Glory, carrying 72,700 tonnes of Russian wheat through lighterage in March 2008.

The secretary, however, said POS Glory was a huge vessel loaded with 72,700 tonnes of wheat, while the TCP ships that would have a cargo weighing between 40,000 to 43,000 tonnes could easily be docked at the 12.5-meter deep Gwadar Port. Earlier, conducting a post-federal committee meeting on wheat handling media briefing at Karachi Port Trust's (KPT) Headquarter, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Naveed Qamar said bunching of ships at two ports had caused congestion.

"The backlog would take more than a month to be cleared," the federal minister told the newsmen, who had to wait for his briefing, which was scheduled at 11am, for at least four exhausting hours.

The minister, who was flanked by Secretary Ports and Shipping Saleem Khan and Director General Ports and Shipping Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi (retd), said some coinciding developments, like the soaring rice and cement exports, fertiliser import, non-opening of Letters of Credit, Eid holidays etc had caused the backlog.

Qamar said to improve a lethargic transportation network all the four provinces, NLC, TCP and railways would directly pick cargo from the ports. To avoid future congestion at ports the government would make arrangements to handle wheat at Gwadar Port. "Though it would cost Rs 80 crore extra, but we would go to Gwadar if the congestion persists," he added.

Taking a very serious cognisance of the issue, the federal cabinet had formed a ministerial committee, DMC, to make the two ports, Karachi Port and Port Qasim, congestion-free, Qamar said. The DMC, he said, would also check efficiency of the TCP, which was bringing unscheduled wheat ships at the outer anchorage of Karachi Port and Port Qasim. Later, the federal minister along with committee members also visited Port Qasim Authority to look into the level of congestion attributed by unscheduled wheat and fertiliser vessels.

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