According to a presentation about Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KS&EW), given to President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan missed at least 10 orders of billions of dollars for shipbuilding due to capacity restraints.
The KS&EW management presentation claimed that Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, UAE, Korea and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) had contacted Pakistan for building big tankers, DWT general cargo, DWT barge and Aframax, but could not be booked due to limited shipbuilding capacity.
KS&EW said shipbuilding is an attractive industry for developing nations as it employs a large number of workers and involves wide range of ancillary industry. It added that shipbuilding industry can help Pakistan reduce poverty, besides expediting the process of economic development.
It referred to countries which took advantage of shipbuilding industry and were earning considerable foreign exchange from it. These were Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam.
The KS&EW said it has already 10 years' orders to enhance its profit reasonably. It would also build submarines (S/M R&S) and corvettes and FACs, survey vessels for Pakistan Navy besides negotiating with Karachi Port Trust (KPT) for building of tugs, tender ferry OPVs (MSA). It is also negotiating contract for building 9600 t /7000 t commercial tankers.
The presentation was indicative of below capacity docking. It mentioned that KS&EW has 88 months' scheduled docking and 17 months' unscheduled docking against requirement of 105 months. It showed a big shortfall in capacity and requirement.
It also demanded big ship lift system at some alternative place as it was not possible at the present location. A comparison showed that Pakistan was at disadvantage in the region since its docks capacity is very small in comparison to competitors. Pakistan has only 26000 (?) docks size against Singapore 500,000, Dubai 600.000, Bahrain 500,000, and Oman 600,000.
The presentation also underlined the need of better ship repair facilities to meet local demand and get business from foreign clients. KS&EW claimed that Pakistan needs shipyards with bigger docks to take advantage of the opportunities, and Gwadar could be the best option for it.
It maintained that the global capacity for shipbuilding has exhausted and it was the right time for Pakistan to enter this industry with additional capacity to earn sizeable foreign exchange from it.
Both President and Prime Minister agreed with the basic concept of the presentation and approved a number of its recommendations to make Pakistan's shipbuilding industry vibrant and profit-making, in real terms.
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