A new weekly shipping service has been introduced between Karachi and Dubai to cope with the increasing volume of trade with the oil rich Emirates.
The first container vessel of the South Asia Ship Management company, m.v. Ghazi, carrying general cargo and perishable items will sail from the Karachi Port to Port Rashid on Friday (July 23).
Marketing representative of the new shipping service Rehan Hafeez, said on Thursday that the shipping company had been set up in joint venture with the Dubai owners and it would have weekly sailing from Karachi, which could be extended with the increase in volume of cargo.
Presently, there are two weekly sailing's from Karachi to Dubai by two ship-owners and the new service would be the third weekly trade sea link between the two countries.
The South Asia Management plans to extend the service up to Dammam in Saudi Arabia by acquiring a third vessel, which will touch Port Jebel Ali on its return voyage to Karachi.
The main cargo in the first sailing of the new shipping company is mainly mango, which will be carried in open top containers, but there are, however, arrangements to book cargo for reefer containers.
Rehan said that the first vessel of the company had arrived at the Karachi Port on a trial journey and its weekly sailing schedule would be fixed for the convenience of the exporters. The ship will arrive in Karachi every week and would sail after two days.
The cargo would be delivered to the importers in Dubai after two days.
Shamim Ahmed, a leading fruit exporter has welcomed the new shipping service, and said that it would facilitate increasing volume of trade between Karachi and Dubai.