Pakistan National Shipping Corporation moves forward to meet demands of Cargo Sector in Pakistan

A New Era of Cargo Industry is about to Begin

CPEC

What is cargo? It is sending goods by means of air transport, ship or motor vehicle. Each kind of cargo is opted depending upon certain factors: reliability, delivery time, goods’ weight and transportation costs has associated advantages and benefits.  95% of Pakistan’s national trade is carried by seaborne means.

Cargo to Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, being a national flag carrier, is one of the 8 organizations running under Ministry of Maritimes affairs that encourages growth in shipping by following the safety standards.

Cargo handling capacity of Pakistan

Pakistan, being a lucrative destination for new investment as it is paving its way to progress. Even though Port Qasim is one of the busy seaports in Pakistan but the Karachi and Gawadar ports are of high significance in terms of trade and cargo handling capacity.

Karachi port of Pakistan is capable of handling up to 14 million tons of liquid cargo while it has the capacity of handling 12 million tons of general dry cargo. Yet, the expansion of handling facility up to 8 million tons is under development.

Pakistan constructed Gawadar deep sea port recently that has gained much importance for being a game-changer in China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC). Gawadar port has the dry Door to door cargo handling capacity of 5.77 million tons and 18.77 million tons of liquid cargo.

Objectives and Functions of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC)

PNSC is a self-governing body that established under 1979 ordinance. The core objective of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation is the carriage of National trade by sea, freight stability and trade strategic considerations.

Pakistan National Shipping Corporation undertakes three types of works as per follows:

•        Fleet Handling

•        Real Estate

•        Workshops

The size of PNSC Fleet

The PNSC has a total deadweight handling capacity of 68806 metric tons. The PNSC fleet comprises of 14 vessels with their tonnage of 570466 DWT and 4 modern double hull Aframax tankers of 107000 DWT capacity.

Gwadar Port

Though this much cargo handling capacity is not enough to handle full cargo trade to or from Pakistan, PNSC is continually struggling and making progress and moving forward successfully. Graph chart of performance for the last 10 years has shown the highest profitability with each coming year.

Targets Achieved by PNSC

In the year 2016, international cargo handling industry faced the unrivalled emergence of big names but PNSC still managed to survive the uneven blow and completed its trade mission successfully.

PNSC during 2016-2017 managed a remarkable profit of 2.477 million pkr and achieved a 7% increase in profit for the corresponding year. The corporation is committed to spending a reasonable amount of profit into development and expansion plans.

PNSC Fleet Development & Extension Plan

The corporation is continually improving its strength as it is well aware of its rivals and improving international standards.

To cater Pakistan’s sea cargo requirements Fleet Development plan is under consideration. PNSC proposed 3 projects under the Public Sector Development Plan (PSDP) which the Government of Pakistan has approved.

These projects include land acquisition for maritime works and Enhance transit oil shore storage capacities at Karachi & Gawadar seaports supported by other stakeholders as well. These facilities would, no doubt, contribute to energy production in the region as well as fuel demands would be met.

Establishment of modern ship workshop at Gawadar is a milestone achieved for the maritime industrial sector.

PNSC A Game Changer in CPEC

China-Pak Economic Corridor is worth $62 billion and would provide the shortest route for Gulf to China, through Pakistan. It’s a gateway open from Gawadar, Pakistan to Xinjiang province of the People Republic of China. Under the CPEC scheme, many coal power plants are established and a few more are about to be established.

PNSC

To ignite and run the power production in those power plants, coal is the number one requirement and would mainly be imported from foreign countries, rich in coal mines. This huge tonnage supply of coal would only be possible if a trusted and uncompromised cargo service is utilised.

Being national flag carrier, PNSC could be a game changer by ensuring uninterrupted coal supply to the Pakistani seaports from source countries and then on time supply could be ensured by delivering it through railways.