Sea trade at Port Qasim rises to 42 percent in fiscal year 2006

The share of the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in sea-borne trade increased from a conventional 33 percent to more than 42 percent during FY06. Cargo handling at PQA touched a threshold of around 24 million tonnes despite a sizeable decline of Pakistan Steel imports by about 40 percent during FY06.
Parallel to cargo handling, ship handling at the Port Qasim showed a significant increase also. Owing to the vibrant policies and proactive strategy of the new management, the port has been able to sustain its share at around 24 million tonnes of cargo with just nine berths during the financial year 2006, showing an increase of 11 percent over the preceding year. Berth productivity ratio considerably increased to more than 2.6 million tonnes per berth during the financial year 2006.
Cargo handling at the Marginal Wharf, run in public sector, showed phenomenal increase of 21 percent during the period under review. The import of cargo ie coal, edible oil, seeds, sugar and fertiliser handling showed an increase of 51 percent, 14 percent, 85 percent, 2,400 percent and 76 percent, respectively.
As regards the export cargo; rice handling was revived after a couple of years and stood at around 0.5 million tonnes earning valuable foreign exchange for Pakistan. As against 21 percent increase in cargo handling, ship handling showed a marginal increase of just 4 percent owing to bigger vessels callings at Marginal Wharf. Cargo volume at the Marginal Wharf also surpassed the budget targets by 11 percent during FY06.
Fotco, a state-of-the-art liquid cargo terminal, caters for major POL imports of the country. Annual growth in POL imports at Fotco has been to the tune of 36 percent during FY06. Ship callings at Fotco also showed an increase of more than 33 percent during the last financial year.
Chemicals imports at the Engro Vopak Terminal also showed an increase of more than 5 percent during the FY06. Pakistan Steel imports of iron ore and coal, however, declined by around 40 percent during FY06 owing to maintenance of their coke oven batteries.
The Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) has been able to grab the lion's share of box trade in the country by handling a record 0.59 million TEUs.
In terms of overall imports and exports, imports increased by 6 percent while exports showed an exceptional growth of 128 percent during FY06.-PR