Pakistan International Container Terminal

News Title: COMMENCEMENT OF NEW CISC/CIX2 SERVICE AT PICT TERMINAL Date: 1/27/2011 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS Full Story: Container Vessel ¿CARDONIA¿ of SIMATECH SHIIPING & EVERGREEN New CISC/CIX2 Service called at Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd. (¿PICT¿) today. The Vessel ¿CARDONIA¿ has 2800 TEU capacity and on its inaugural voyage to Pakistan, She discharged and loaded over 1100 TEU . CISC / CIX 2 service rotation is XIngang ¿Qindgdao ¿ Shanghi- Ningbo- Hong Kong- Singapore- Tangung Pelepas ¿Port Kalang-Nhava Sheva - Karachi (PICT) ,Colombo, Port Klang, Port Tanjung Palepas, Singapore, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo. On this occasion, the PICT Management congratulated the representatives of EVERGREEN & SIMATECH SHIIPING who were all present on this occasion and stated that PICT was pleased to offer its terminal handling facilities to the new service which will boost the container handling of Karachi Port. PICT Management also appreciated the efforts of Karachi Port to enhance the capacity of its marine flotilla which was now paying dividends in assisting Karachi Port to capture more containerized cargo volumes. PICT is a state-of-the-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over 600,000 TEUs (¿twenty foot equivalent container units¿) in the financial year 2009-2010. During July 2010 to December 2010 PICT handled 321,733 Teus. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation - a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-the-art Container Scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo. TThe total investment in PICT terminal and berths is around US $ 150 million. Back to Top
News Title: AGREEMENT SIGNED $173M COAL, CEMENT, CLINKER TERMINAL TO BE BUILT AT PORT QASIMRECORDER REPORTSunday, 7th Nove Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER Full Story: KARACH: The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) on Saturday signed an 'Implementation Agreement' to build a $173 million fully-automated coal, cement and clinker terminal (CCCT) at Port Qasim. PQA Chairman Vice Admiral (R) Muhammad Shafi and Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), Sharique A Siddiqui, signed the agreement at a ceremony at a local hotel. The terminal will be established on 'Build, Operate and Transfer' (BOT) basis for a period of 30 years. On the occasion, Karachi Port Trust chairperson Nasreen Haque and members of ports and shipping sector were present PIBT will be the country's first dirty bulk cargo handling facility and will be constructed at an estimated cost of $ 173 million over a period of 30 years. The project is expected to become operational in three years, with an initial project expenditure of $140 million. The terminal will have capacity to handle annually 8 million tons coal, cement and clinker. The jetty will have a depth of 15 metres, with capability of handling large ships of up to 75,000 dwt. The length of the jetty will be around 460 metres, which will be connected to the backup area of 25 hectares with a 2.5 km long trestle. The terminal is planned to have storage and handling facilities for each type of the cargo. PQA Chairman appreciated Pakistan International Bulk Terminal for huge investment at Port Qasim, and said, "it is probably the largest and totally locally owned investment at Port Qasim". He said that the coal, clinker and cement terminal had been conceived some four years ago but became possible to coming into existence under his chairmanship. He said that Port Qasim was developing fast while around 176 operational industries and 276 manufacturing units were under construction. Shafi said Port Qasim had great appeal for users with its 45 km long navigational channel and fast building infrastructure, hoping that the country's second largest port would become a leading one in the future. Chairman of Pakistan International Container Terminal, Captain Haleem A. Siddiqui said the bulk terminal project had been pending for the past four years for approval. He lauded PQA chairman's efforts to materialize it in a short span. "The project was lying for four years at Port Qasim, but PQA chairman kicked it off," he said. He also highlighted his firm's involvement in ports and shipping-related projects in the country, saying that "we missed no opportunity since 1981 to participate in bids of ports and shipping sector". Back to Top
News Title: DEAL SIGNED FOR COAL, CEMENT TERMINAL By our correspondentSunday, November 7, 2010 Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL Full Story: KARACHI: An agreement was signed on Saturday for the development of the country's first mechanised and fully automated coal, cement and clinker terminal on, a 30 year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis Chairman of Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Vice Admiral M Shafi and Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIB'I'L) Sharique A Siddiqui signed the implementation agreement. The terminal construction will cost around $173 million. It is expected to become operational in three years with an initial project cost of $140 million. Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited CEO said the terminal would be capable of handling 8 million tons per annum of coal, cement and clinker. The jetty will have a depth of 15 meters and length of 460 meters and will be capable of handling two ships of up to 75,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) simultaneously. The jetty will be connected to the backup area of 25 hectares with a 2.5 kilometers long trestle with two convener belts. Coal. cement and clinker storage capacity will be 900,000 tons; 540,000, tons (nine silos of 6000 tons each) and 360;000 tons, respectively. Shaft said that PIBT would be the largest investment in Port Qasim so far. He said this would be the eighth terminal at PQA. He said the 45-kilometers channel of PQA was an opportunity for investors. He also said there was potential for setting up liquefied natural gas terminal at the port. Expression of Interest for the project was invited by PQA from foreign and national firms in 2006. Six firms were pre-qualified for the project and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) was selected for the project. Under the requirements of PQA, a separate terminal operating company PIBT was incorporated to carry on the project. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of PICT. Back to Top
News Title: PQA TO BUILD $180M NEW BULK CARGO TERMINALBy Parvaiz Ishfaq RanaSunday, November 7, 2010 Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: DAILY DAWN (BUSINESS) Full Story: KARACHI, Nov 6: Port Qasim is going to build country's first dedicated dirty bulk cargo terminal at a cost of $180 million and it is expected to become operationalwithin next three years. The terminal, with a jetty of 460 metres length, will be fully automatic and will handle eight million tons per annum of coal, cement and clinker, with a storage capacity, of around 0.9 million tons. The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) has awarded construction work of the terminal to Pakistan International Bulk Terminal on 30 years build, operate and transfer (BoT) basis. A signing ceremony of the implementation agreement took place here on Saturday wherein PQA chairman vice admiral M Shafi and chief executive officer Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) Sharique A Siddiqui inked the document. The terminal would be country's first dedicated dirty bulk cargo handling facility which will be constructed at an estimated cost of $180 million over a period of 30 years. However, the project is expected to come into operation in three years with an initial cost of $140 million. On having a depth of 15 metres, the jetty of the terminal would be capable of handling large ships of up to 75,000 dwt. The back-up area of the jetty will be spread over 25 hectares with 2-5km long trestle. PQA chairman vice admiral M Shaft said that investment of $180 million in development of dedicated terminal would be the single largest investment in the port. He further stated that it was even more interesting that so far most of investment in different projects at PQA had been in foreign collaboration, but this is going to be entirely local investment. The PQA chairman said that presently 176 industrial units are operational at PQA industrial area and about 278 industries are in different stages of development. Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) chairman Capt Haleem A Siddiqui said that Port Qasim invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) in July 2006 from foreign and national firms. Six companies were pre-qualified for the project. He further said that PICT being technically and financially best amongst the bidders was selected for the project. However, to meet the PQA condition, a separate terminal operating company, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), was incorporated to carry on the project which is wholly owned subsidiary of PICT. The project was lying in the cold storage for the last four years and files kept moving from Islamabad to PQA but when Vice Admiral M Shafi took over four months back, things started moving and today implementation agreement has been inked. He said Marine Services Group had been participating in every port project and is fully capable of handling and executing such projects on having required expertise and skills, mostly from indigenous resources. Director-General Ports and Shipping Hasan Zaidi, chairperson KPT Nasreen Haque were also present. Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghourl was unable to attend the signing ceremony due to funeral of slain MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq. Back to Top
News Title: COAL CLINKER / CEMENT TERMINAL TO BE SET UP AT PQAKarachi, Thursday 28th October 2010, 19 Ziquad 1431 Date: 10/28/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER Full Story: KARACHI: Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) has informed that Port Qasim Authority (PQA) has conveyed the approval of the ECC of the Cabinet Division to establish coal and clinker / cement terminal at Port Qasim on BOT basis. In an information sent to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), the PICT said that the signing of the implementation agreement and its schedule would follow in due course. The planned capacity of the project is to handle 8 million tones per annum of coal, cement and clinker which is enhanceable up to 12 million tones per annum. The project cost is expected to be $140 million approximately. The signing of the agreement will be made by Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (Private) Limited (PIBT) which is wholly owned subsidiary of PICT. Back to Top
News Title: PACKAGE FOR FARMERS APPROVED Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER Karachi, Sunday 17 October Full Story: ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday deferred decision on the proposal for increase in wheat support price, and approved onetime incentive package for flood affected areas farmers[...] The meeting accorded approval for setting up of a coal and clinker cement terminal at Port Qasim. The relevant authority boards could approve in future all projects having no government financing and guarantee. Back to Top
News Title: ECC APPROVES CASH PACKAGE FOR FLOOD-HIT FARMERS Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: THE NEWS e-PAPER Full Story: ISLAMABAD: The government has approved a time-bound financial package for flood-affected farmers by announcing Rs.30,000 grant to small land holders and a concessionary loan package for big farmers. Finance Secretary Salman Siddique disclosed this here on Saturday, while briefing the media persons about decisions taken in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting that took place on Friday and continued till late in the night. [...] The government also approved an incentive package for development of coal by offering as high as 20.5 percent internal rate of return on investment, that too on dollar base. The companies that will manage financial close by December 2004 would be entitled to claim 20.5 percent rate of return and the ones that would complete by December 2015 can claim 20 percent rate of return. The ECC also approved establishment of coal and cement terminal plant at Port Qasim. The decision would fetch in $173 million (Rs.14.8 billion). Back to Top
News Title: ISLAMABAD: THAR COAL-BASED PACKAGE APPROVED Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: The Express Tribune October 17th, 2010 Full Story: The government also approved Thar coal-focused incentive package by offering a dollar-based rate of return on investment as high as 20.5 per cent. Companies managing financial close by December 2014 would be entitled to claim 20.5 per cent rate of return and ones completing the process by December 2015 can claim a rate of return of 20 per cent. The package also offers zero per cent customs duty on coal mining equipments and withholding tax exemptions on dividends to shareholders for 30 years. The package offers exemption on withholding tax on procurement of goods and all other levies, including excise duty, special excise duty and workers' welfare fund. The government has declared the Thar coalfield to be a Special Economic Zone and projects of Thar development as 'Projects of National Security'. The ECC also approved the establishment of coal and cement terminal plants at Port Qasim. The decision would fetch in Rs.14.8 billion ($173 million) investment. The secretary said the government also decided that in future, where no sovereign financial obligation is involved, respective corporations will seek the approval of their board of directors instead of coming to the ECC. Back to Top
News Title: ECC DEFERRED PROPOSAL FOR EXPORT OF 2M METRIC TONS OF WHEAT Posted by APP on October 16, 2010 @8:13 pm In Business Date: 10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: AAJ News - http://www.aaj.tv Full Story: The Economic Coordination Committee of Cabinet (ECC) has decided to provide a grant of Rs.2400 per acre to the farmers/landowners upto 12.5 acres of the flood affected areas for the cultivating Rabi crops in the country. The ECC which met under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr.Abdul Hafeez Sheikh here also decided to extend [...] The Secretary Finance said that ECC also approved the Ministry of Port and Shipping proposal for the establishment of a coal, clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim as a cost of US $ 173 million. Article printed from AAJ News: http://www.aaj.tv Back to Top
News Title: COAL, CLINKER/CEMENT TERMINAL AT PORT QASIM MINISTRY¿S PROPOSAL READY FOR ECC¿S APPROVAL Date: 10/15/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER Full Story: ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Ports and Shipping's proposal for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim at a cost of $173 million is ready for approval of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, official sources told Business Recorder. The source said that a proposal for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim on Built-Own and Transfer (BOT) basis was placed before the ECC during its meeting held on June 29, 2010. The ECC directed that: (a) proposed agreement may be vetted by the Ministry of Law and thereafter re-drafted and the summary along with vetted agreement by Law Division be submitted to the ECC for consideration; (b) in future, cases where no GoP funds (from PSDP) or government guarantees are required should not be referred to the ECC and should be considered/approved by the Board of Directors of PQA/KPT. Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs has vetted and cleared the Implementation Agreement (IA) along with its schedules from legal point of view. Ministry of Ports and Shipping has also consulted the concerned Ministries/Divisions in this regard. "ECC has been solicited to the investment proposal of $173 million for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim and signing of the IA, with the successful bidder (M/s. PICIT) on BOT basis wherein GoP funds (from PSDP) or government guarantees are involved," the sources added. - MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN" Back to Top
News Title: LARGEST EVER SHIP BERTHS AT PICT Date: 3/27/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: DAILY DAWN Full Story: The Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) has received the largest ever container vessel to call at country¿s ports. With a carrying capacity of 6,039 boxes Wan Hai 605 belongs to South Korean shipping line. The vessel with 40-meter beam and GRT 66197 tons was accommodated on berth at East Wharf of the Karachi Port. During its stay the vessel is expected to load, unload 3,000 boxes. With the arrival of large sized vessels importers and exporters would enjoy benefits accruing from economies of scales. This will also help the KPT to generate more revenue on increased tonnage. Speaking on the occasion chairman PICT Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the terminal has completed its all development phases at an investment cost of $150 million. The terminal now cound handle large sized vessels because the Karachi Port has deepened the approach channels and the draft of the berths. The KPT also managed to enhance the handling capacity of the port by induction two modern tugs and is striving hard to meet port user¿s requirement for rapid clearance of cargo. He claimed that PICT was the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only one to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. The terminal has been financed by the International Finance Corporation- a member of the World Bank group, and is also first private sector project to be financed by the Opec fund for international development. He said that PICT has also installed a state of the art container scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo. Back to Top
News Title: PICT TERMINAL HANDLES THE LARGEST CONTAINER VESSELS TO CALL AT PAKISTANI PORTS Date: 3/26/2010 12:00:00 AM Ref: PRESS RELAEASE Full Story: Karachi, 26th March 2010: Container Vessel ¿Wan Hai 605¿ of WAN HAI Shipping Line and capacity of carrying 6039 TEU berthed at PICT berths at Karachi Port. Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd (¿PICT¿) is handling the vessels of the shipping services comprising of the largest container vessels to call Pakistani Ports. The upgraded CSG / CMS Services is a Far East service which has three shipping lines as partners: Wan Hai Line, K Line and PIL, and is the first Liner Service to bring vessels of over 6,000 TEU (¿Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Unit¿) capacity to Pakistan. The vessel WAN HAI 605 has capacity of 6039 TEUS and length 276 meters. The vessel has 40 meter Beam and GRT 66,197 MT and will handle 3,000 TEU during this call at Karachi Port. KPT will get enhanced revenues due to increased tonnage. Pakistan trade i.e. Import & Export will get benefit due to economies of sales. On this occasion, the Chairman of PICT, Capt. Haleem Siddiqui, stated that by the Grace of God PICT has completed all its development phases at an investment cost of USD 150 million and is now attracting the largest vessels to call at Pakistan. This is a success story for Karachi Port which ¿ under the leadership of the Minister Ports and Shipping and the Chairperson KPT ¿ has made great strides in enhancing the handling capacity of the Karachi Port by induction two modern tugs in the KPT fleet recently and with the deepening of channel. PICT is a state-of-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over half a million TEUs (¿Twenty foot equivalent container units¿) in the financial year 2008-2009. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Development. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation ¿ a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-art Container Scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is over US $150 million. Back to Top
News Title: NEW PICT BRIDGE INAUGURATED Date: 12/11/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS Full Story: (PR) ¿ Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Minister for Ports and Shipping, inaugurated the new bridge of PICT which marked a new development of port infrastructure by the private sector. Capt Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman PICT, in his speech explained that PICT has undertaken the development of a new bridge along with an eight lane gate house to expand its gate capacity. The cost of the bridge is Rs. 230 million which is unique in its design to cater for the heaviest traffic emanating from the port. NESPAK provided the design consultancy for the bridge and the bridge was completed in two years time. Chairman PICT also appreciated the support of the Minister for Port and Shipping, the management of Karachi Port Trust and the trade and industry for their continued support in making PICT a success. PICT is a state-of-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over half a million TEU¿s (twenty foot equivalent container units) in financial year 2008-2009. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state of art Container Scanner for non intrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is around US$ 150 million. Back to Top
News Title: NO HARM IF DISTRICT GOVT TAKES OVER GAWADAR PORT AFFAIRS (MINISTER) Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: THE NEWS e-PAPER Full Story: KARACHI: minister for ports and shipping Babar Khan Ghauri has said that if the Gawadar port is given under the city district Government to run its affairs there is no harm in it. ¿We will support this for the development and progress of the port, local people and the area ¿he said. Gawadar port is to be used for transshipment and in this regards work is under the progress and the main hurdle is land dispute, he said, adding, ¿We are looking at this matter and trying to solve it so the port can be fully operational.¿ He said this at the inauguration of the Pakistan international container terminal (PICT) Bridge. He added that latest and modern scanner are being installed at the port Qasim with us government¿s support ant more advance and modern scanner will b installed at the other ports as well with their support. Ghauri said that there is a need to combat extremism and terrorism to sustain development and modernization, adding uncertain law and order situation will shatter the progress and development of the country. Pakistan international container terminal (PICT) is the only Pakistani terminal operator with high growth and is performing much better than others. He added that in the second phase the bridge would be connected with M.A Jinnah Road. Captain Haleem Siddiqui, Chairman PICT, said that PICT has undertaken development of a new bridge along with an eight ¿lane gatehouse to expand its gate capacity. The cost of the bridge is Rs230 million and is designed consultancy was provide by NESPAK. He added that PICT is very actively developing the port infrastructure and said the next year in March PICT will start online records of inward and outward cargo on entry and exit gates. PICT handles over half a million TEU in financial year 2008-09. Nasreen Haque, Chairperson Karachi Port Trust, speaking on the occasion briefed about KPT¿s progress and ongoing and future projects. She added the KPT is also pursuing landlord port doctrine which helps to better complete with regional ports and meet ever growing challenge of international and regional sea-trade. In this regards, an example of success of landlord port strategy is PICT, which has shortest possible time. Back to Top
News Title: RS 230 MILLION BRIDGE ADDED TO $150m PICT INFRASTRUCTURE Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI Full Story: Karachi : with the opening of a new 330-metre long post-tensioned box girder bridge constructed by Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at a cost of Rs 230 million ,federal Minister for ports and shipping Babar Khan Ghauri on Saturday said , his ministry would not object if the federal government decided to hand over Gwadar Port to the concerned district government in Balochistan. Further, the volume of private sector investment in the `Pakistanis-run¿ container terminal has crossed $150 million level. Addressing the inauguration ceremony o f `PICT Bridge¿ along with an eight lane `Gate House¿ here at PICT on Saturday, the minister said his ministry would have no objection if the federal government decided to hand over possession of the Gwadar port to Balochistan government. Ghauri said with the help of the US, the government had installed state-of-the art scanners at Port Qasim and would soon do the same at Karachi Port to make the country¿s seaborne trade, specially the US-bound cargo, safer. Out of three counter terminals KICT,QICT and PICT, the later was the one completely owned and run by Pakistanis and growing at a pace faster than its two competitors, he added. He said in the second phase the bridge would be connected to M A jinnah Road. Lauding KPT and PICT management efforts for undertaking a ¿remarkable¿ development at the two ports. The minister said that no fruit of the infrastructure development could be reaped in the absence of peace. Condemning the terrorist attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi which he said, had created a sense of paranoia among the masses, he blamed the ¿Political mullas¿ (clerics) for all such deadly incidents. ¿Those religious organizations, mosques and madrassahs, which are creating and supporting terrorists, should be made accountable through stoppage of fund and support,¿ he said Earlier, KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque underline various projects undertaken by the KPT in and outside PICT, Which made remarkable progress since its inception ,was an example success of the KPT¿s landlord port strategy. She said despite the recessionary trend prevailing worldwide comparing previous financial year activities with FY 2004 ¿ 2005, KPT had ensured gain in container handling ,where a growth of 37 percent registered, taken the figure from .9 million TEU¿s to 1.249 million TEU¿s According to her, the handling of dry cargo at Karachi Port had increased by 65 percent to 25.36 million tons while total cargo handling had surged by 35 percent. Sharique A. Siddiqui Director and Chief Operating officer of PICT, highlighted salient features of the newly built bridge. He said that adding the bridge comprised two carriageways each for import and export and heaving three truck lanes. It had specially been designed to cater for heavy port traffic loads by using special type steel false work in its construction work. Embankment retaining walls comprise of keystone Retaining Wall with Geo Grid Membrane system provided by the ENVICRETE and had been used for the first time in Pakistan as a structure components of a bridge, the COO said Sharique also told the gathering that total investment in PICT was over $150 million. PICT chairman Captain Haleem Siddiqui told the ceremony ,which was attended by a large number of guest representing various institution of the ports and shipping industry, that PICT had developed the bridge along with a Gate House to expend its ¿gate capacity¿. He said that the bridge, designed by National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak), was completed in two years and was unique in its design to cater for the heaviest traffic emanating from the port. Back to Top
News Title: PORTS RECORD 10PC GROWTH DESPITE RECCESSION Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: DAWN BUSINESS Full Story: KARACHI, DEC 5: Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghori said on Saturday that due to financial crunch many ports around the world recorded a negative growth but Pakistani ports overall achieved 10 percent growth. He said that delay in developing link roads and railway line with hinterland kept the Gawadar port non-functional for along and ultimately the present government on the directive of the Prime Minister began to handle public sector cargo. However, the minister stressed that Gawadar port should be used for transshipment and for this purpose the government had already started to acquire surrounding land required for ports. Babar Ghori was speaking at the inauguration of the pict bridge (phase-1) and said that the federal government would not have any objection if the provincial government like to run the Gawadar port. He said that it was the right of the people of the area benefit from any such facility and the benefit of all the natural resources should first go to the local people. The minister was pleased to know that the Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) owned by a Pakistan company has archived fabulous growth of 200 percent last year and had also achieved all development target much ahead of schedule. He said presently there were three container terminals operating in the country two are run by well-established and reputed foreign operators but the PICT is being run by a Pakistani company. However, the minister felt unhappy over the present state of affairs of many institutions and said that the desert country like Dubai only 90 minutes away from Pakistan developed so fast that it become icon and trade hub of the region. But Pakistan which was better placed and at the time of independence got fairly large developed infrastructure is presently lagging behind and most of ¿our ¿institutions have deteriorated ¿. Capt Haleem Siddiqui, chairman PICT said that the terminal was fully financed by IFC and Opec Fund and local bank is involved in funding this project. He said that the terminal had installed its own scanner and have it power generation system, All equipment which were supposed to b installed much latter had been already included in the inventory due to rapid growth of the terminal. Ms Nasreen Haque, chair person KPT speaking on the occasion said that the Karachi port is the premier port of the country and has under taken flagship project of deep water container port with 18 meter draft. Back to Top
News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE) Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009) Full Story: Would you like to suggest remedies for its betterment? Pakistani port should operate under a proper laid out master plan where development in specialized cargo field (dry bulk handling, liquid cargo handling, container handling etc.) should be planned an executed in a professional manner. This mean that the individual ports should work in sync under one national development policy framework to encourage private investment in the port rather than every port coming up with project on an ad hoc basis and total disharmony with what is being planned at the other ports. The terminal should be allocate dare as to develop inland container depots with proper instructor (port connectivity through rail and road) to ease congestion at the ports and the city center. The government also needs to rationalize the tariff of both the port tariff. Also there should be a level playing field for the entire terminal in Pakistan where same standard and tariff apply so that inefficiencies and discrimination should not be there. Of course, I will say that Pakistani entrepreneurs should be given incentives by the government to encourage Pakistani business houses to grow. As is apparent, all commercial Pakistani cargo is now carried by foreign carriers and majority of all the containerized cargo in Pakistan is being handled but foreign owned terminal in the country, local business houses should be given an equal opportunity to complete in development project- where we have seen recently that any port project have set discriminatory terms for participation for the local enterprises. Would you like to share with us the future plan s of your company? Phase-wise development, to build capacity up to 550,000teu, has been completed in 2008 .PICT has commenced phase 4 development to enhanced capacity to 750,000TEU per annum. PICT is now constructing an inland container depot (ICD) at northern by pays in Karachi on 16.5acres. Scheduled for completion by mid 2010, the pict ICD will ease congestion at the Karachi port and enhance PICT`s handling capacity. Our parent company, PMS, is also developing an ICD at Lahore Prem Nagar with railways¿ linkage on 30 acres which wil allow us to provide logistics solution to our customers in Lahore directly at their doorstep. Back to Top
News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE) Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009) Full Story: How do you market your services? The shipping lines calling Pakistan are the client of the terminals. All of them have local offices in Pakistan and have controlling regional head quarters. We market our facilities and internationally, additionally, we provide a one ¿window facilitation center for all documentation and processing for the importers and exporters who use our facility. In your opinion, how much has the global economics recession affected trade in Pakistan? In my opinion, Pakistan has not borne brunt of the global economics recession simply because we are not as globally dependent as major industrial nations or trading hubs. From our perspective, we saw some downturn in cargo hanrecorey in container handling from this year on word. The reason is that Pakistan continues to mostly handsets own indigenous growth may have been hampered due to the prevailing global and local recession. But the quantum of trade which caters to Pakistan`s own import demand and export supply has continued to be fairly stable in terms of container handling. What is the present state of the cargo and shipping industries? Globally, shipping lines are suffering tremendously due to excessive capacity building .when times were good; the shipping lines overstretched themselves by ordering large ships and in great number. Now when global trade lanes are faced with diminished demand and lesser cargo is flowing on those trade routes, the ships and container slot available to transport that cargo is in much excess to what is presently needed. Hence the freight rates have fallen due to excessive capacity. What is the approximate annual revenue that this industry generates? Is it flourishing or lagging behind? As PICT is the only public listed container terminal with transparent publication of its account icon only surmise about the rest of the industry and assume that the total approximate annual renewed of the container handling of industry and Pakistan would b above US$200 million the container terminal are Pakistan are very dynamic and operate of international standard of efficacy there are in total three container terminal in Pakistan ( QICT, KICT , and PICT ) and all there are aggressively, expanding their capacities and investing in the ports to modernize cargo handling in the country and meet the future needs of trade. What are the major challenge that are faced by this industry ? The main challenge are congestion in the port due to the unavailability of area to expand the terminal facility .the dwell time for cargo clearance from the customs is also into rise which leads to less productive handling at the ports there is a death of professionalism in the trucking industry in Pakistan which leads to frequent strikes and lack of supply in the time of end like Eid Holydays, etc. Back to Top
News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING ( BY SHARIQUE SIDDIQUI) Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009) Full Story: Completed his high education at Aitcheson College (Lahore). He then went on to join tufts University in the US where he purchased an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in Economics. After returning to Pakistan Sharique joined his family business in 2007. As Director and Chief Operating Officer of PICT he shares details of the business and the container handling industry in an exclusive interview with Export times. How and when was Pict established? The sponsor of pict, premier Mercantile services (PMS) pvt . Ltd, has been operating at the Karachi port since 1964 as a stevedore. KPT invited bids for the development of a container terminal in the year 1999 in which PMS gave the best bids and the project was awarded to PMS in 2002. Pakistan international container terminal Ltd.(pict) was formed in 2002 as a terminal operating company for the project to design ,construct, operate and transfer after 21 years a modern container terminal at berths 6-9 East wharf, Karachi port. What changes do you see in competition these days? Is the market any different now? Pict inters the container handling market when Pakistan economy was growing at a healthy rate for over six percent per annum. Trade ease growing over 10 percent per annum and containerized cargo handling was subsequently growing significantly every year. with an intensive focus on capacity building, PICT undertook all its development phases within five year- one after the other and built up more capacity to handle container in the first five year of the project than what was committed to KPT over the 21 year life of the BOT project . In 21 year, we had to build capacity to handle 450,00 TEU (`Twenty Foot Equivalent container Units¿)but focused investment and container our expansion, PICT is now handling half a million container per annum in the first few year our inception. Back to Top
News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE) Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009) Full Story: How does PICT maintain its edge over competitor? What step have you recently taken to upgrade facilities? Firstly, PICT had the advantage of commencing commercial operation within six weeks of establishing the project .this was achieved by taking over the existing equipment of our parent company and commencing dedicate container terminal operation immediately upon inception. Fortunately, PICT has been generating positive cash flow from day one of our development phases in the time and within our allocated budget. In the last five year, the total investment in PICT has been over us$100 million, which has enabled us to build a state ¿of-art container handling facility at the East Wharf at Karachi port. By the grace of God, in the successful commissioning of the project, PICT has broken new ground in the following ways. PICT is the only container terminal in Pakistan that has been sponsored and is owned by Pakistanis. It is the only port infrastructure project whose shares are quoted on the Karachi stock Exchange. It is the first port infrastructure project in Pakistan financed by the international Finance Corporation (IFC)-the private arm of the World Bank. It is the first private sector project in Pakistan in which the OPEC fund for international development has participated as financers. PICT is also the first container terminal in Pakistan to install the latest container scanning system with dual imaging capability (from the top an side of the container) And 6 me V X-Ray acceleration technology. PICT has acquired 10 latest electric rubber tyred gantry cranes (E-RTGs) in 2008 that are dual powered. These RTGS are the first to b installed in Pakistan and more cost efficient as well as friendly enjoinment PICT operator with 20th rubber tyred gantry cranes in our yard area of 200,000 square meters. PICT has also installed the first quayside cranes in Pakistan that can lift two empty containers at the same time ¿thereby doubling the cranes productivity on empty container moves. PICT has six quayside cranes and two mobile harbor cranes. PICT is also the fourth terminal in the world to install the navis N$ as a terminal operating system .N$ automates the yard and vessel planning and is the latest version of Navis SPARCS software which is operated at nearly 200 marines terminal globally. Back to Top
News Title: RACE FOR CAPCITY BUILDING IN THE PORTS OF PAKISTN (CONTINUE) Date: 10/29/2009 1:00:00 AM Ref: DAILY DAWN Full Story: PICT has sped through the completion of its three expansion phases in only five years that were envisaged to be completed over 21 years life of the BOT concession, building capacity for handling 550,000 TEU per annum which will be further expanded to 750,000 TEU per annum. The extraordinary expansion of the ports is not limited to the above mentioned existing container terminals. Karachi Port has awarded a concession for the construction of a new port mega project, Karachi Deep Water Container Port, to Hutchison Port Holdings Limited ("HPH") for building capacity beyond 1.5 million TEU per annum with a quay wall of 1500 meters in the first Phase. Yard storage area earmarked is 65 hectares, draught is planned at 16 meters depth and the project is designed to cater for the handling of the largest container vessels currently afloat. The race for building handling capacity is also not restricted to containerized operations only. Gwador Port has engaged Port of Singapore Authority ("PSA") for multipurpose cargo handling at Gwador with an aim to capture some of the transshipment container traffic of the region. KPT had allowed a dedicated bulk cement handling facility to be built at the West Wharf berths that contributed to enormous growth in cement handling at Karachi Port - surging from only 2,767 tons of cement export handling in the year 2000 to 3.8 million tons of cement handling in 2008-9 at Karachi Port. Port Qasim Authority ("PQA") has recently inaugurated a modern liquid cargo terminal at Port Qasim and inaugurated an LPG Terminal in 2007 - in addition to two already built dedicated liquid cargo terminals at Port Qasim. PQA has also awarded a concession for the construction of a Grain and Fertilizer Terminal which is underway. Furthermore, PQA has announced plans to build a Coal, Clinker and Cement Terminal and is working on LNG Terminals at Port Qasim. The private sector initiative for investments in the ports in Pakistan has led to an unprecedented growth in cargo handling facilities which has been spurred on by the growth of the economy in the last decade but shows no sign of weakening even in the face of the current global and local economic downturn. The capacity calculations have been taken as up to 130,000 TEU per annum per 100 running meters of quay wall/berth and the details of the Terminal's expansion phases have been quoted from their own respective company briefs/websites and articles appearing in the press. The annual statistics mentioned are during the financial Year from July to June) Back to Top
News Title: RACE FOR CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE PORTS OF PAKISTAN (BY DIRECTOR & C.O.O PICT) Date: 10/29/2009 1:00:00 AM Ref: Daily Dawn Full Story: Pakistani ports have been engaged in a supercharged drive for capacity-building, driven by the private sector investment in cargo handling. Pakistan has three main container terminals: Qasim International Container Terminal ("QICT") in Port Qasim, Karachi International Container Terminal ("KICT") and Pakistan International Container Terminal ("PICT") at Karachi Port. In the mid-1990's, the Port Authorities privatized the berths at the port in line with the internationally practiced concept of "landlord port" whereby the port retains the ownership of the port area, yet privatizes the port operations to the private sector which then modernizes the cargo handling through investment to meet international standards of productivity. The port authority then gains from royalties and land rental that emanate from the port operator. The concept has had a resounding success in Pakistan: private sector investment in the ports have paved the path for opening the trade ways of Pakistan, creating capacity in the ports and enabling the trade of the country to flow efficiently. The total trade (imports plus exports) of the country in the financial year 1998 was almost USD 19 billion (USD 8.6 billion of exports and USD 10.1 billion of imports). In a decade, the total trade in the year 2008 has tripled to USD 60 billion (USD 19 billion of exports and USD 39.9 billion of imports). Almost all of the trade is seaborne with a very small percentage carried by air transport. The growth in the economy has compelled the trade to expand, leading to an unprecedented drive to modernize the ports so that the influx of cargo at the ports can be handled efficiently to sustain the trade flows. This has led to a frenzied drive by the port operators to keep on expanding their cargo handling capabilities in a very challenging and demanding environment. QICT commenced operations in 1997 as the first established container terminal of the country at Port Qasim which was designed to handle up to 400,000 TEU (TEU: Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Unit) per annum. KICT commenced operations in 1998 also designed to handle up to 400,000 TEU per annum. PICT commenced operations in 2002 designed to handle 450,000 TEU per annum. Total containers handled at the ports in 1997-98 were around 667,000 TEU. After 10 years, the country's total container handling stands at 1,992,953 TEU in 2007-2008: a growth of 200 percent over 10 years. Almost all the 2 million TEU (ninety five percent to be exact) were handled by the three container terminals, QICT, HICT and PICT. In these 10 years, with the over whelming surge in containerized traffic in Pakistan (especially in the last five years), all the terminals have been feverishly increasing their equipment and berth capacity, acquiring more area within the port as well as utilizing areas outside their own port premises, and constantly investing in their systems to improve their efficiency (training a skilled set of labour, information technology, communication and security systems etc). QICT is now doubling its existing facility to build capacity for handling an additional 1.175 million TEU per annum, which will bring its total handling capacity to 2.175 million TEU per annum. Capacity expansion is being done through constructing an additional quay wall, increasing their berth size from 600 meters to 1,327 meters as well adding 15 hectares more storage area to their existing 24 hectares of area. KICT has also undertaken rigorous capacity building, increasing their berths from 600 meters to 973 meters, deepened their alongside depth and expanded their storage area to 26 hectares, thereby building handling capacity to well over 1 million TEU per annum. PICT has expanded through investments in its equipment, storage and access areas, expanding from handling 83,000 TEU in 2003, to handling 513,000 TEU in 2008-2009. Back to Top
News Title: COAL, CEMENT AND CLINKER TERMINAL: PICT TO BUILD $175 MILLION `POLLUTION FREE¿ FACILITY AT PORT QASIM Date: 8/21/2009 1:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER Full Story: KARACHI (August 07 2009): Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) are all set to sign an implementation agreement to develop the 'pollution free' Coal, Cement and Clinker Terminal (CCCT) worth $175 million at Port Qasim. According to sources, PQA has issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) to PICT last Wednesday after which the two sides started negotiating the modalities for establishing the specialised terminal. After successful negotiations the matter would be referred to Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCOI) for approval, they added. "The project is being undertaken under the landlord concept ensuring that it would earn more royalty for PQA with low tariff rates at the proposed terminal," Chairman PQA Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi (Retd) told Business Recorder. According to sources the required formalities would take at least a month after which the two port operators would sign the implementation agreement. The sources said the CCCT, a state-of-the-art facility to be constructed on 32-year Built-Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis at Port Qasim, would have a handling capacity of up to eight million tons per year. The terminal would have the capacity to accommodate coal, clinker and cement vessels of 75,000 dead weight tonnage, they said. They said that PICT would be required to execute the implementation agreement within 120 days with PQA after acceptance of the LOI. The most special thing about the facility, the source said, would be that its modern equipment which would not create any air pollution, as was the case at the coal terminal at Karachi Port. They said big mountains of powdery coal, lying and being handled in open/bulk on dedicated berths at Karachi Port, are not only inflicting irreparable damages upon the environment, but also causing various respiratory diseases, like tuberculosis, asthma etc, among the poor people living in areas adjacent to the port. "State-of-the-art equipment would be there to handle the coal at the pollution-free terminal, where cement and clinker would also be handled in future," the sources said. The PQA chief eyes the project as a 'step forward' in the development of PQA in terms of capacity enhancement. "The project would enhance the port's capacity manifold, all the developed and developing mega projects at PQA could be possible because of the proactive strategy of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri", he added. Back to Top
News Title: MISC's upgraded Halal Express Service Calls PICT. Date: 4/21/2009 1:00:00 AM Ref: "MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI Full Story: KARACHI : MISC¿s vessel M.V. Bunga Raya Dua arrived at PICT the other day to mark the inaugural vessel call of the MISC¿s upgraded Halal Express Service. The upgraded MISC service deploys 6X4250 TEU vessels comprising of one of the largest vessels calling Karachi Port. The new service will cover the Far East, South East Asia, Indian Sub-continent and the Middle East, and will be operated independently by MISC. The service will be unique in offering a ¿Double Dip¿ at Karachi i.e both East Bound and West Bound vessels will be calling Karachi (PICT Terminal) with 104 expected calls per annum. PICT is a state of the art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and as a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled 475,000 TEU¿s in the financial year 2007-2008. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation- a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-art Container Scanner for nonintrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is over US$100 million. Back to Top
News Title: MALAYSIA STARTS 'DOUBLE DIP' SHIPPING SERVICE FOR PAKISTAN Date: 4/21/2009 1:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI Full Story: KARACHI: Malaysia has commenced its upgraded Halal Express Service (HES) for Pakistan with The maiden call of a large vessel at Pakistan international container Terminal (PICT) on Monday. The volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia was recorded at $1.8 billion during Last year; Malaysia deputy high Commission to Pakistan Mohammad Khalid Abdul Razak told in a ceremony held at PICT to mark the commencement of HSE. The event was attended by the Managing Director, ISPI Corporation (Pvt) Limited, Kareem Ispahani, former Malaysia Ambassador And politico-industrial tycoon, Zia Isphani and Captain Mahzan, the master of MV Bunga Raya Dua, which has 12-meter draft and 2500 TEUs onboard. Commenting on the trade volume of Pakistan, the Chairman PICT, Captain Haleem A Siddique told Business Recorder that global recession had shrunk the trade volume of the country by more than 20 percent. However, Monday `s arrival of the ship would usher in a new era at Karachi Port, which under HES would frequently be visited by 14 meter draft `s larger vessel of MISC Berhad, the national flag carrier of Malaysia. Addressing the occasion, MD ISIP Corporation, which is an exclusive agent of MISC Berhad in Pakistan, said his firm, which was the world¿s top carriers of LNG cargo, would ensure 104 calls annually to Karachi port. Highlighting the prominent features of the new service, he said in line with its aim to serve the ever-growing needs of the Pakistani and Gulf consumers, MISC Berhad had upgrade HES by deploying larger vessels and offering wider port coverage with additional direct calls. Further MISC would be deploying 6x4,250-TEU class vessel, to be among the largest ones calling at Karachi port, an a 42 days round voyage, he added. The new service, which would cover Far East, South East Asia, Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East , would be operated by MISC independently on the following port rotation: Shanghai /Ningbo/Shekou/Jakarta/Singapore/Port of Tanjung Pelepas/Port Kelang/Karachi /Jebel Ali/Bandar Abbas/Karachi/Nhava Sheva/Colombo/Port Kelang/Singapore/Shanghai. The new service would be unique by virtue of its `Double Dip¿ at Karachi, calling PICT both on the West Bound as well as East Bound voyages, Ispahani added. The HSE would also offer the fastest route from Port Kelang to Karachi. With the addition of Jakarta into its new port rotation MISC would also be the only carrier to have a direct service from Indonesia to Pakistan and the Middle East. We have requested the Karachi port trust (KPT) to rationalize its port tariffs, inline with its regional competitors, he said. Looking forward more cooperation, Malaysia¿s Deputy High Commission, Mohammad Khalid Abdul Razzak said that the two brotherly countries had been the time-tested friends in good as well as bad times. He said that out of total $1.8 billion bilateral trade between Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur, the former's contribution was $ 150 million only in terms of export to his country. Restricting his speech to a vote of thanks on the occasion , the PICT Chief, Captain Haleem later told Business Recorder that the KPT was committed to ensuring a 14-meter deep channel at Karachi Port, which was striving to accommodate big vessel. Asked about the trader¿ longstanding complaints on sky-high terminal handling charges (THC) at PICT, Siddiqui said , `We would certainly charge the traders for the service we provide to them.' Furthermore, ruling out the possibility of reducing the THC, he said the KPT was considering to slash the `port dues¿ to make Karachi Port more attractive for business. The director and Chief Operation Officer of PICT Sharique A Siddique however said that factors like an indigenous nature of Pakistan¿s trade, a record handling of 49,500 TEUs at PICT in March, would help Pakistan recover fast. Back to Top
News Title: PICT MAY GET CONTRACT FOR COAL, CLINKER TERMINAL AT PORT QASIM Date: 4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI Full Story: ISLAMABAD : Port Qasim Authority (PQA) is likely to award the contract for setting up of coal and clinker/cement terminal at the Port Qasim to M/s Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT). Sources told Business Recorder that PQA has sought the approval of the government to negotiate awarding a contract to successful bidder ¿ PICT is setup to said terminal at Port Qasim. Sources in PQA said that the PQA Board held its meeting on March 11, 2009. The summary of the case providing all the details regarding steps taken for evaluation of the technical and financial proposals and the recommendations of PQA in-house committee was presented in the PQA Board meeting. The board was informed that PQA in-house committee upon conclusion of the competitive bidding process cleared the bidder and allowed the authority to seek approval from the government to negotiate and award the contract to the successful bidder. Following issuance of the board resolution, PQA has forwarded the case of the project on BOT basis to the ports and shipping Ministry for approval, so as to negotiate and award the contract to the successful bidder. This master plan was duly approved by the government of Pakistan for setting up a coal and clinker/cement terminal designed to handle 75,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) bulk carriers. It will be a Greenfield development without PAQ or government funding and guarantee of throughput for a concession period of 20 years on BOT basis extendable for further 30 years on mutual agreed terms and conditions. In the event of disagreement of terms and conditions the project company shall be obliged to transfer entire assets to PAQ at Re1 only .Expression of interests (EoIs) for the project was invited through press on July 30, 2006 and six companies submitted their EoIs . The process of selection of the firm as per laid down criteria was carried out by PAQ in-house committee and PQA¿s consultant M/S Nespak, who recommended PICT for the terminal at Port Qasim on BOT basis. Back to Top
News Title: KPT INCREASES DRAFT BERTHS Date: 2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI Full Story: The Karachi Port has increased its existing draft of berth to 12 meters to facilitate the shipping companies already calling at Karachi Port. Sharing her vision with the Management Executives and port stake-holders, KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque pointed out that Karachi Port is the principal port of Pakistan which provides modern facilities to port users and stake holders. At Karachi Port, she said cargo ships call round the clock. It is in fact the only port in Pakistan, which handles variety of cargo including dangerous cargo with adequate safeguards. She said no delays occur at Karachi Port as far as the berthing of vessels is concerned because of efficient management of the system. Back to Top
News Title: ARABIAN EXPRESS SERVICE LANUCHED WITH EVERGREEN'S VESSEL CALL AT PICT Date: 1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS "KARACHI JANUARY 16, 2009 Full Story: The first vessel of Evergreen Line for Arabian Express Service, Uni Angel, called PICT the other day. The vessel discharged 150 TEU¿s and loaded 383 TEU¿s during its twelve hours stay at berth, said a press release. Evergreen Line has launched its new combined built services with Seaconsortium on 27th Dec 2008. The new joint ASX is a weekly service with port rotation as follow: Colombo, Kandla, Mundra, Karachi, Nhava Sheva and back to Colombo. PICT is a state of the art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a twenty one year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT has completed its development phase much earlier than scheduled and has installed four Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes in October 2008 as part of its Phase 4 development plans, PICT now operates with 6 Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled 475,000 TEU¿s in the financial year 2007-2008. Back to Top
News Title: PICT PHASE FOUR ON TRACK FOR COMPLETION IN JUNE Date: 10/23/2008 1:00:00 AM Ref: Lloyd's List (Worldwide Marine Insurance) Full Story: The fourth phase of Pakistan's private sector terminal, Pakistan International Container Terminal, will be completed in June 2009 to handle 750,000 teu per year, according to PICT director Sharique Azim Siddiqui. He told Lloyd's List that PICT commenced phase-III and phase-IV at a cost of $65m in 2007. This was five years earlier than the scheduled target date and due to the growth of container handling at the terminal. He said that the terminal had imported two quayside cranes and ten rubber tyred gantry cranes that will add to PICT's existing four quayside cranes and ten RTGs. The new cranes have the added capability of lifting two 20 feet containers together at one time. The latest equipment is part of the phase-IV Expansion of PICT, which will significantly increase the terminal's annual handling capacity. Back to Top
News Title: PICT HANDLED 475,000 teu in 2007-2008 Date: 10/23/2008 1:00:00 AM Ref: Lloyd's List (Worldwide Marine Insurance) Full Story: PICT located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. It operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. Back to Top
News Title: PRESS RELEASE Date: 10/5/2008 1:00:00 AM Ref: PRESS RELEASE Full Story: Karachi 08th October 2008: ZPMC Vessel "Zhenhua 5" berthed at Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd. ("PICT") today laden with two Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes belonging to PICT. The new equipment will add to PICT's existing four Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry ("RTG") Cranes. The equipment is brand new from ZPMC China which is the global leader in port cranes manufacturing. The new Quayside Cranes have the added capability of lifting two 20 feet containers together at one time. Furthermore, the new RTG Cranes which are used for storage in the container yard, have the latest technology of being dual powered: through diesel fuel and also through electric power. Electric powered RTGs will burn less fuel and as such be both cost effective and environment friendly. The latest Equipment is part of the Phase 4 Expansion of PICT which will significantly increase PICT's annual handling capacity. PICT handled 475,000 TEUs in the financial year 2007-2008. PICT is a state-of-the-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT has completed its development phases much earlier than scheduled and have invested in the port of Karachi much in excessive to the contractual commitment¿s contained in the concession agreement with KPT. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation - a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. The total cost of developing PICT is over US $ 100 million. Sharique Siddiqui ( Director Projects / Chief Operating Officer ) Back to Top
News Title: MAC ANDREWS ANNOUNCES NEW SWAX SERVICE AT PICT Date: 1/25/2005 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, January 25, 2005 Full Story: Pakistan International Container Terminal "PICT" held a ceremony recently to welcome the arrival of the new service of Mac Andrews Shipping Line at PICT terminal. The new "SWAX" service has a port rotation of Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Jebel Ali, Dar es Salam, Mombasa and Khorfaakkan. Two vessels are deployed in the SWAX service, which are operated jointly by CMA shipping Line and Mac Andrew Shipping Line. The vessels currently call at Karachi twice a month. The first SWAX service vessel Mikiri Green called at the terminal on January 8th and was handled within 12 hours by PICT. The second vessel, Hanseduo, called PICT and was also handled within the same time period. The welcoming ceremony was attended by the Managing Director of Mac Andrews Shipping Line, Mr. Geoff Smith and other senior shipping personnel. PICT management welcomed the arrival of Mac Andrews service and was pleased to note that PICT had been chosen as the terminal of choice in Pakistan for the new SWAX service. Mac Andrews Shipping Line is represented by their agents in Pakistan, Portlink International Services (Pvt) Ltd. The Mac Andrews representatives praised the high productivity of PICT terminal and expressed satisfaction at the quality of services provided by the new state-of-the-art container terminal facility, which commenced operation recently in April 2004 with its new equipment. Back to Top
News Title: SHIPPING POLICY MUST BERE-ENGINEERED : AZIZ Date: 12/5/2004 12:00:00 AM Ref: THE NEWS "KARACHI, DECEMBER 05, 2004 Full Story: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed Ministry of Communication to Update, change and re-engineer the shipping policy announced in the year 2002. Addressing the inaugural function of Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at East Wharf of Karachi Port Trust, Prime Minister said, "We want to induct private sector into direct shipping". However, he also announced to promote and protect the state enterprise - Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) - by saying that government will encourage new induction of ships and provide support for the financial health of ailing PNSC. Prime Minister on behalf of Chairman Karachi port Trust (KPT) announced that draft of berths of KPT has been deepened up to 11 meters and government intends to increase the depth to 16 meters, which will enable bigger ships to anchor at KPT in coming months. He said although the present PNSC was much better than the previous PNSC, there is a need to buy more ships and government will extend its support to PNSC in this regard. He said that the government was disappointed by the private sector over non-requisition of new ships under the shipping policy. Nevertheless, Prime Minister said government wants to encourage the establishment of Pakistani flag carriers as soon as possible and in the regards will provide every concession and facility. He said "government is gully behind such initiatives and expects the private sector to continue with same zeal to make our ports and shipping efficient and competitive in the region". Praising the financial and growth performance of the KPT, Prime Minister said, "the improving profitability and strong financial health of KPT is certainly gratifying It has provided a great opportunity to KPT to contribute to development that can facility the needs of rapidly growing economy". "It is heartening to fine that all its projects are not only on track but a number of them are either at completion or at advanced stage of implementation, " Shaukat said. Prime minister said the trade and commerce are the wheels of economy that move on well-equipped modern ports and effective shipping line. " Ports are our front windows that markets and trade and reflect investment climate in a country." He said to become a regional economic power, "we need to develop outstanding network of rail, road, air and maritime transport and telecommunication". Back to Top
News Title: PICT CLAIMS COMPLIANCE WITH ISPS CODE Date: 11/30/2004 12:00:00 AM Ref: "THE NEWS" BUSINESS Full Story: Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited ("PICT") has announced achieving International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code compliance by the end of June 2004. According to Director Projects Sharique A. Siddiqui on Thursday "The PICT is the first terminal in Pakistan to install round the clock surveillance cameras in its terminal premises of 120,000 sq meters. "The parameter fence around the PICT has been strengthened and more stringent security measure are in place at all entry and exit point of the terminal, "the project director added. "These security measures not only make PICT compliant to ISPS, but also will enable the terminal to provide a higher quality of secure services to its customers for container handling at East Wharf, " he added. The Port and Shipping Wing Ministry of Communications, has been assigned as the designated authority under the ISPS code to issue compliance certificates to port facilities after through examination, rigorous paper work and verification. Back to Top
News Title: CONSORTIUM LAUCHES NEW SERVICE AS 1,024 TEUs VESSEL CALL AT PICT Date: 11/30/2004 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS "KARACHI, NOVEMBER 30,2004 Full Story: Pakistan International Container Terminal ("PICT"), the newly built modern container terminal at East Wharf Karachi Port, handled the maiden call of the new service launched by the consortium of Regional Container Lines ("RCL"), NYK Line and Hapag Lloyd on 23rd November 2004. The new consortium is a significant addition to the Far East Traffic offering the fastest service to Singapore from Pakistan, said a press release. PICT in its message welcomed the arrival of the new service and was pleased to note that the consortium had chosen PICT as their terminal of choice in Pakistan. PICT operates with two new rail-mounted Quay Cranes commissioned in March 2004 and two Mobile Harbour Cranes for ship-to-shore operations, along with the newly constructed terminal facility on berth 6-9 spread over 135,000 sq. meters. PICT has deepest depth alongside the berths available amongst all the three terminals in the country i.e. 12.2 meters, which is planned to be dredged to 13.5 meters. The new weekly service brings about 1,000 TEUs per vessel to PICT significantly boosting the terminal volumes of PICT. PICT was proud to note that the maiden vessel, Cape Ferro, which had 1024 TEUs on this call, was handled in an impressive 12 hours by PICT. Mr. Sohail Shams, President of All Pakistan Shipping Association and CEO of United Marine Agencies (Pvt) Ltd. Who are shipping agents for RCL in Pakistan, praised the terminal productivity of PICT and said that it was in line with the best terminals in the region. He termed the new service as an important development for Pakistan shipping sectors as more shipping consortiums are focusing on calling Pakistan and competing with others to reduce the steaming time from Pakistan to major ports like Singapore in the case. Back to Top
News Title: PICT COMMENCES OPERATIONS WITH NEW EQUIPMENT Date: 4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, April 1, 2004 Full Story: Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) held a ceremony to mark the commencement of operations of its new port handling equipment at PICT Terminal at berths 6-9, East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT is the second container terminal project at the Karachi Port and has been set up to develop a modern container terminal facility at the East Wharf of Karachi Port. PICT has acquired state-of-the-art container handling equipment for the completion of its Phase I development at a project cost of USD 30 million. The new equipment includes 2 Quayside Container Cranes, 4 Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes, 2 Reach Stackers, 2 Empty Container Handlers, 1 Top Lifter, 10 Terminal Tractors and 20 Trailers, 2 Forklifts and 5 service vehicles. PICT has also set up its own Power Generation Plant of 5 MW capacity. PICT has been in commercial operations since 2002 with its existing container handling equipment and handled about 80,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Units in 2003. This ceremony marked the commencement of operations of the new Quayside Container Cranes which will enhance the efficiency of the terminal and attract more shipping lines to the new facility. The first container vessel - "Safmarine Pakistan" - to be handled with the new Cranes was also the inaugural voyage of the new weekly Maersk Sealand Service which has commenced calling at PICT Terminal from today and is expected to significantly boost the container handling traffic at the new Terminal. PICT is the latest container terminal in the country which boasts the deepest draft facility of 13.5 meters planned depth and the Quayside Cranes with an outreach of46 meters to handle the largest vessels calling the region. PICT is the first container terminal Project in Pakistan to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange and is majority-owned and operated by Pakistanis. PICT made an Initial Public Offering of its shares in August 2003 to raise partial equity for the Completion of the Phase I which has been achieved earlier than the scheduled date of Mid-April 2004. PICT has raised debt from the International Finance Corporation ("IFC") -a member of the World Bank Group -and the OPEC Fund for International Development. Vice Admiral (Retd.) Ahmad Hayat, Chairman Karachi Port, was the Chief Guest at the occasion which was hosted by Capt. Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman PICT. Representatives of the Shipping Lines, Karachi Port and the Shipping Community were present on the occasion. Back to Top
News Title: PRIVATE SECTOR URGED TO PLAY ROLE IN PORT PROGRESS Date: 2/13/2004 12:00:00 AM Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER" KARACHI, February 13, 2004 Full Story: Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat (Retd.), Chairman Karachi Port Trust, on Thursday said, "the port could not progress without the participation of private sector.". "There are several new projects to be offered in private sector like bulk cargo handling terminal, cargo village and deepening of harbour channel, " he said while speaking at the arrival ceremony of cranes at Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT), East Wharf on Thursday. He said, "We appreciate those who were ahead of their project and we would keep supporting them.". After the completion of projects at the port, we act as a landlord port like other ports in the world, he added. Earlier, the Chairman PICT, Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the bulk of our investment goes to China, as we have brought two quay cranes, four rubber tire gantries (RTG) at a cost of $14 million imported from Shanghai's Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC), China, which is the largest supplier of container cranes and best in the world. The new quay cranes have an outreach of 46 meters, two mobile cranes and will modernize the port operations of PICT to handle larger container vessels which are currently being handled. Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the project is expected to achieve completion of Phase-I ahead of schedule i.e. April, this year, and most of the civil works has completed, the power generation plant of 5MW is installed and the other container handling equipment like 'reach stackers' and terminal tractors are expected to arrive before time as well. These equipments have arrived much before the delivery time and are going to be commissioned after successful completion of all tests. He said that the PICT has the deepest alongside the berths available amongst all the three terminals in the country i.e. 12.2 meters which is planned to be dredged to 13.5 meters. Back to Top
News Title: IFC LOAN Date: 12/23/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: "DAWN" KARACHI, December 23, 2003 Full Story: International Finance Corporation and the OPEC Fund for International Development have disbursed the entire amount of their long-term loans totalling USD 17 million to the Project. The Funds have been received by PICT Bankers, which has enabled the Company to process opening of Letters of Credit on the equipment suppliers ahead of the planned schedule. Back to Top
News Title: PICT SETS DATE FOR SHARE OFFERING TO THE PUBLIC Date: 8/26/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: "MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, August 26, 2003 Full Story: Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited held a presentation to senior bankers of the country for the upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO) of PICT at the Terminal on berths 6 ¿ 9, East Wharf, Karachi Port according to a press release. At a gathering of about 50bankers, Capt. Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman of PICT, explained the Container Terminal Project which entailed procurement of state-of-the-art container handling equipment, setting up of power generation plant and completing the necessary civil works for the container stacking areas as well laying rails for Ship-to-Shore Gantry Cranes. Back to Top
News Title: KSE APPROVES PROVISIONAL LISTING OF PICTL Date: 8/19/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: "THE NEWS" KARACHI, August 19, 2003 Full Story: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) said on Monday that it had Approved the provisional listing and quotation of shares of Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited (PICTL) from Wednesday. Back to Top
News Title: OPEC FUND SUPPORTS EXPANSION OF MAJOR PORT IN PAKISTAN Date: 5/30/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: VIENNA (Austria), May 30, 2003 Full Story: A private sector loan agreement for US$7.75 million was signed today between the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Pakistan International Container Terminal in Karachi, Pakistan, the most heavi1y-used port in the country. The Karachi port handles 60% of Pakistan's international trade and 80% of all container volume. The Fund loan will be used to help finance Phase I of a project to expand the port's facilities in order to stimulate trade, improve service levels and lower transport costs. Works to be carried out will include the installation of two ship-to-shore and four rubber-tired gantry cranes and other supporting equipment; construction of new buildings and workshops according to operational needs, as well as a dedicated power plant; installation of security systems and gates; construction of heavy concrete block pavement for stacking containers; and laying of dockside crane rails. The financing represents the Fund's first private sector operation in Pakistan. Development assistance totalling over US$240 million, however, has previously been directed to the public sector in the form of project loans in the sectors of energy , transportation, agriculture, national development banks, education, industry and health. In addition, the Fund has provided balance of payments support. Technical assistance grants have also been extended that supported regional programs in the areas of agriculture and health. In October 2000, an agreement for the encouragement and protection of investment was entered into between the Fund and the Government of Pakistan. Today's signing ceremony took place at the Fund's headquarters in Vienna. The agreement was signed on behalf of Pakistan International Container Terminal by Captain Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and by H.E. Dr. Saleh A. Al-Omair, Chairman of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund. Back to Top
News Title: LIBERALIZATION OF INVESTMENT POLICY HINTED AT Date: 5/18/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: "THE NEWS" KARACHI, May 18, 2003 Full Story: Minister for Privatisation and Investment Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has hinted at further liberalisation of investment policy with regard to big infrastructure projects, to be carried out by the private sector. The federal minister said the government's regulatory framework for bigger infrastructure projects must be friendly to investors because such projects created high hopes in terms of overall benefits to the economy. He described the loan accords as very significant in the history of port and shipping and said the establishment of the terminal would generate a record income and revenue for the economy. Chairman Karachi Port Trust Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat while speaking on the occasion said, "KPT is no more a costly or inefficient port of the region and if anybody has any doubt he or she must come to KPT and I will prove my assertion by facts and figures". He, however, said KPT was open to suggestions for further improvement. Regional IFC Chief Sami Haddad said: "This is the first IFC investment in Pakistani port and shipping sector and the new terminal will be handling one lack containers annually." He said operations at Pakistan's ports were still very costly and inefficient and low productivity at the ports generated losses to the tune of 1.5 per cent of GDP of Pakistan. He was sure that with the establishment of the container terminal the cost of import and export would decrease substantially. He announced that "our investments in Pakistan will increase in coming years". He disclosed the OPEC Fund would provide a loan of $7.75 million and an agreement in that regard would be reached on May 30. He suggested granting following two concessions to bigger infrastructure projects, to be carried out by the private sector. 1. All imports consisting of technology and other equipment must be exempted from payment of advance income tax because this payment creates extra financial burden besides enhancing the cost of projects. 2. The 100 per cent mandatory cash collateral for obtaining bank guarantee should be either done away with or replaced by other financial instruments as practiced in the developed countries. Back to Top
News Title: IFC FINANCES CONTAINER TERMINAL AT KARACHI PORT Date: 5/17/2003 12:00:00 AM Ref: KARACHI, May 17, 2003 Full Story: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement today to provide a senior loan of $7.75 million and a subordinated loan of $1.5 million to the Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd for the development and operation of a container terminal at the Karachi port under a 21-year concession agreement granted by the Karachi Port Trust. OPEC Fund is expected to provide a parallel senior loan of $7.75 million. Premier Mercantile Services (Pvt.) Ltd, a long-time Pakistani container operator at the Karachi port, is the project sponsor. Hamburg Port Consulting is expected to provide technical services. ¿PICT would be the first infrastructure project financed by IFC in Pakistan. I am also delighted that through PICT, IFC has pioneered OPEC Fund to the private sector in the country. It addition it also makes me very proud that through AKD Securities support PICT would be the first infrastructure project in the history of the country to be listed on Karachi Stock Exchange¿ said Haleem Siddiqui, Chairman PICT. This project will improve container handling efficiency at the Karachi port and benefit shipping lines, exporters and importers through lower transport costs and higher service levels. "IFC's investment will encourage trade and contribute to the overall economic growth in Pakistan," said Francisco Tourreilles, Director of IFC's Infrastructure Department. ¿IFC¿s support is essential to catalyze interests of other investors. This is especially critical given the current uncertainties faced by the region,¿ noted Sami Haddad, Regional Director of IFC. Investing in port projects has been a key part of IFC's strategy in promoting private sector participation in the infrastructure sector. Over the past ten years, IFC has invested in almost $300 million in 22 ports across 13 countries. IFC's mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's committed portfolio at the end of FY02 was $15.1 billion with an additional $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications. Senator Dr. Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Privatization and Investment was the Guest of Honour at this impressive ceremony held at Sheraton Hotel where about 250 guests mainly from the shipping community attended. The Minster praised the efforts of PICT to secure IFC financing for investment in the ports sector and called this a landmark occasion and a trend-setting example for the private sector shipping industry to follow. Back to Top

News Title: COMMENCEMENT OF NEW CISC/CIX2 SERVICE AT PICT TERMINAL

Date: 1/27/2011 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS

Full Story:
Container Vessel ¿CARDONIA¿ of SIMATECH SHIIPING & EVERGREEN New CISC/CIX2 Service called at Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd. (¿PICT¿) today. The Vessel ¿CARDONIA¿ has 2800 TEU capacity and on its inaugural voyage to Pakistan, She discharged and loaded over 1100 TEU . CISC / CIX 2 service rotation is XIngang ¿Qindgdao ¿ Shanghi- Ningbo- Hong Kong- Singapore- Tangung Pelepas ¿Port Kalang-Nhava Sheva - Karachi (PICT) ,Colombo, Port Klang, Port Tanjung Palepas, Singapore, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo. On this occasion, the PICT Management congratulated the representatives of EVERGREEN & SIMATECH SHIIPING who were all present on this occasion and stated that PICT was pleased to offer its terminal handling facilities to the new service which will boost the container handling of Karachi Port. PICT Management also appreciated the efforts of Karachi Port to enhance the capacity of its marine flotilla which was now paying dividends in assisting Karachi Port to capture more containerized cargo volumes. PICT is a state-of-the-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over 600,000 TEUs (¿twenty foot equivalent container units¿) in the financial year 2009-2010. During July 2010 to December 2010 PICT handled 321,733 Teus. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation - a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-the-art Container Scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo. TThe total investment in PICT terminal and berths is around US $ 150 million.

News Title: AGREEMENT SIGNED $173M COAL, CEMENT, CLINKER TERMINAL TO BE BUILT AT PORT QASIMRECORDER REPORTSunday, 7th Nove

Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER

Full Story:
KARACH: The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) on Saturday signed an 'Implementation Agreement' to build a $173 million fully-automated coal, cement and clinker terminal (CCCT) at Port Qasim. PQA Chairman Vice Admiral (R) Muhammad Shafi and Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), Sharique A Siddiqui, signed the agreement at a ceremony at a local hotel. The terminal will be established on 'Build, Operate and Transfer' (BOT) basis for a period of 30 years.
On the occasion, Karachi Port Trust chairperson Nasreen Haque and members of ports and shipping sector were present PIBT will be the country's first dirty bulk cargo handling facility and will be constructed at an estimated cost of $ 173 million over a period of 30 years. The project is expected to become operational in three years, with an initial project expenditure of $140 million.
The terminal will have capacity to handle annually 8 million tons coal, cement and clinker. The jetty will have a depth of 15 metres, with capability of handling large ships of up to 75,000 dwt.
The length of the jetty will be around 460 metres, which will be connected to the backup area of 25 hectares with a 2.5 km long trestle. The terminal is planned to have storage and handling facilities for each type of the cargo.
PQA Chairman appreciated Pakistan International Bulk Terminal for huge investment at Port Qasim, and said, "it is probably the largest and totally locally owned investment at Port Qasim". He said that the coal, clinker and cement terminal had been conceived some four years ago but became possible to coming into existence under his chairmanship. He said that Port Qasim was developing fast while around 176 operational industries and 276 manufacturing units were under construction.
Shafi said Port Qasim had great appeal for users with its 45 km long navigational channel and fast building infrastructure, hoping that the country's second largest port would become a leading one in the future.
Chairman of Pakistan International Container Terminal, Captain Haleem A. Siddiqui said the bulk terminal project had been pending for the past four years for approval. He lauded PQA chairman's efforts to materialize it in a short span. "The project was lying for four years at Port Qasim, but PQA chairman kicked it off," he said.
He also highlighted his firm's involvement in ports and shipping-related projects in the country, saying that "we missed no opportunity since 1981 to participate in bids of ports and shipping sector".

News Title: DEAL SIGNED FOR COAL, CEMENT TERMINAL
By our correspondentSunday, November 7, 2010

Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL

Full Story:

KARACHI: An agreement was signed on Saturday for the development of the country's first mechanised and fully automated coal, cement and clinker terminal on, a 30 year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis
Chairman of Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Vice Admiral M Shafi and Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIB'I'L) Sharique A Siddiqui signed the implementation agreement.
The terminal construction will cost around $173 million. It is expected to become operational in three years with an initial project cost of $140 million.
Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited CEO said the terminal would be capable of handling 8 million tons per annum of coal, cement and clinker. The jetty will have a depth of 15 meters and length of 460 meters and will be capable of handling two ships of up to 75,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) simultaneously. The jetty will be connected to the backup area of 25 hectares with a 2.5 kilometers long trestle with two convener belts.
Coal. cement and clinker storage capacity will be 900,000 tons; 540,000, tons (nine silos of 6000 tons each) and 360;000 tons, respectively.
Shaft said that PIBT would be the largest investment in Port Qasim so far. He said this would be the eighth terminal at PQA.
He said the 45-kilometers channel of PQA was an opportunity for investors.
He also said there was potential for setting up liquefied natural gas terminal at the port. Expression of Interest for the project was invited by PQA from foreign and national firms in 2006.
Six firms were pre-qualified for the project and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) was selected for the project.
Under the requirements of PQA, a separate terminal operating company PIBT was incorporated to carry on the project. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of PICT.

News Title: PQA TO BUILD $180M NEW BULK CARGO TERMINALBy Parvaiz Ishfaq RanaSunday, November 7, 2010

Date: 11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: DAILY DAWN (BUSINESS)

Full Story:

KARACHI, Nov 6: Port Qasim is going to build country's first dedicated dirty bulk cargo terminal at a cost of $180 million and it is expected to become operationalwithin next three years.
The terminal, with a jetty of 460 metres length, will be fully automatic and will handle eight million tons per annum of coal, cement and clinker, with a storage capacity, of around 0.9 million tons.
The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) has awarded construction work of the terminal to Pakistan International Bulk Terminal on 30 years build, operate and transfer (BoT) basis.
A signing ceremony of the implementation agreement took place here on Saturday wherein PQA chairman vice admiral M Shafi and chief executive officer Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) Sharique A Siddiqui inked the document.
The terminal would be country's first dedicated dirty bulk cargo handling facility which will be constructed at an estimated cost of $180 million over a period of 30 years. However, the project is expected to come into operation in three years with an initial cost of $140 million.
On having a depth of 15 metres, the jetty of the terminal would be capable of handling large ships of up to 75,000 dwt. The back-up area of the jetty will be spread over 25 hectares with 2-5km long trestle.
PQA chairman vice admiral M Shaft said that investment of $180 million in development of dedicated terminal would be the single largest investment in the port.
He further stated that it was even more interesting that so far most of investment in different projects at PQA had been in foreign collaboration, but this is going to be entirely local investment.
The PQA chairman said that presently 176 industrial units are operational at PQA industrial area and about 278 industries are in different stages of development.
Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) chairman Capt Haleem A Siddiqui said that Port Qasim invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) in July 2006 from foreign and national firms. Six companies were pre-qualified for the project.
He further said that PICT being technically and financially best amongst the bidders was selected for the project. However, to meet the PQA condition, a separate terminal operating company, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), was incorporated to carry on the project which is wholly owned subsidiary of PICT.
The project was lying in the cold storage for the last four years and files kept moving from Islamabad to PQA but when Vice Admiral M Shafi took over four months back, things started moving and today implementation agreement has been inked.
He said Marine Services Group had been participating in every port project and is fully capable of handling and executing such projects on having required expertise and skills, mostly from indigenous resources.
Director-General Ports and Shipping Hasan Zaidi, chairperson KPT Nasreen Haque were also present. Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghourl was unable to attend the signing ceremony due to funeral of slain MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq.

News Title: COAL CLINKER / CEMENT TERMINAL TO BE SET UP AT PQAKarachi, Thursday 28th October 2010, 19 Ziquad 1431

Date: 10/28/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER

Full Story:

KARACHI: Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) has informed that Port Qasim Authority (PQA) has conveyed the approval of the ECC of the Cabinet Division to establish coal and clinker / cement terminal at Port Qasim on BOT basis.

In an information sent to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), the PICT said that the signing of the implementation agreement and its schedule would follow in due course.

The planned capacity of the project is to handle 8 million tones per annum of coal, cement and clinker which is enhanceable up to 12 million tones per annum. The project cost is expected to be $140 million approximately.

The signing of the agreement will be made by Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (Private) Limited (PIBT) which is wholly owned subsidiary of PICT.

News Title: PACKAGE FOR FARMERS APPROVED

Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER
Karachi, Sunday 17 October

Full Story:

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday deferred decision on the proposal for increase in wheat support price, and approved onetime incentive package for flood affected areas farmers[...]

The meeting accorded approval for setting up of a coal and clinker cement terminal at Port Qasim. The relevant authority boards could approve in future all projects having no government financing and guarantee.

News Title: ECC APPROVES CASH PACKAGE FOR FLOOD-HIT FARMERS

Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: THE NEWS e-PAPER

Full Story:

ISLAMABAD: The government has approved a time-bound financial package for flood-affected farmers by announcing Rs.30,000 grant to small land holders and a concessionary loan package for big farmers. Finance Secretary Salman Siddique disclosed this here on Saturday, while briefing the media persons about decisions taken in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting that took place on Friday and continued till late in the night. [...]

The government also approved an incentive package for development of coal by offering as high as 20.5 percent internal rate of return on investment, that too on dollar base. The companies that will manage financial close by December 2004 would be entitled to claim 20.5 percent rate of return and the ones that would complete by December 2015 can claim 20 percent rate of return.

The ECC also approved establishment of coal and cement terminal plant at Port Qasim. The decision would fetch in $173 million (Rs.14.8 billion).

News Title: ISLAMABAD: THAR COAL-BASED PACKAGE APPROVED

Date: 10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: The Express Tribune
October 17th, 2010

Full Story:

The government also approved Thar coal-focused incentive package by offering a dollar-based rate of return on investment as high as 20.5 per cent. Companies managing financial close by December 2014 would be entitled to claim 20.5 per cent rate of return and ones completing the process by December 2015 can claim a rate of return of 20 per cent.

The package also offers zero per cent customs duty on coal mining equipments and withholding tax exemptions on dividends to shareholders for 30 years. The package offers exemption on withholding tax on procurement of goods and all other levies, including excise duty, special excise duty and workers' welfare fund. The government has declared the Thar coalfield to be a Special Economic Zone and projects of Thar development as 'Projects of National Security'.

The ECC also approved the establishment of coal and cement terminal plants at Port Qasim. The decision would fetch in Rs.14.8 billion ($173 million) investment. The secretary said the government also decided that in future, where no sovereign financial obligation is involved, respective corporations will seek the approval of their board of directors instead of coming to the ECC.

News Title: ECC DEFERRED PROPOSAL FOR EXPORT OF 2M METRIC TONS OF WHEAT
Posted by APP on October 16, 2010 @8:13 pm In Business

Date: 10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: AAJ News - http://www.aaj.tv

Full Story:

The Economic Coordination Committee of Cabinet (ECC) has decided to provide a grant of Rs.2400 per acre to the farmers/landowners upto 12.5 acres of the flood affected areas for the cultivating Rabi crops in the country. The ECC which met under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr.Abdul Hafeez Sheikh here also decided to extend [...]

The Secretary Finance said that ECC also approved the Ministry of Port and Shipping proposal for the establishment of a coal, clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim as a cost of US $ 173 million.
Article printed from AAJ News: http://www.aaj.tv

News Title: COAL, CLINKER/CEMENT TERMINAL AT PORT QASIM
MINISTRY¿S PROPOSAL READY FOR ECC¿S APPROVAL

Date: 10/15/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER

Full Story:

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Ports and Shipping's proposal for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim at a cost of $173 million is ready for approval of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, official sources told Business Recorder.

The source said that a proposal for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim on Built-Own and Transfer (BOT) basis was placed before the ECC during its meeting held on June 29, 2010. The ECC directed that: (a) proposed agreement may be vetted by the Ministry of Law and thereafter re-drafted and the summary along with vetted agreement by Law Division be submitted to the ECC for consideration; (b) in future, cases where no GoP funds (from PSDP) or government guarantees are required should not be referred to the ECC and should be considered/approved by the Board of Directors of PQA/KPT.

Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs has vetted and cleared the Implementation Agreement (IA) along with its schedules from legal point of view. Ministry of Ports and Shipping has also consulted the concerned Ministries/Divisions in this regard.

"ECC has been solicited to the investment proposal of $173 million for establishment of coal and clinker/cement terminal at Port Qasim and signing of the IA, with the successful bidder (M/s. PICIT) on BOT basis wherein GoP funds (from PSDP) or government guarantees are involved," the sources added. - MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN"

News Title: LARGEST EVER SHIP BERTHS AT PICT

Date: 3/27/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: DAILY DAWN

Full Story:

The Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) has received the largest ever container vessel to call at country¿s ports. With a carrying capacity of 6,039 boxes Wan Hai 605 belongs to South Korean shipping line. The vessel with 40-meter beam and GRT 66197 tons was accommodated on berth at East Wharf of the Karachi Port. During its stay the vessel is expected to load, unload 3,000 boxes. With the arrival of large sized vessels importers and exporters would enjoy benefits accruing from economies of scales. This will also help the KPT to generate more revenue on increased tonnage. Speaking on the occasion chairman PICT Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the terminal has completed its all development phases at an investment cost of $150 million. The terminal now cound handle large sized vessels because the Karachi Port has deepened the approach channels and the draft of the berths. The KPT also managed to enhance the handling capacity of the port by induction two modern tugs and is striving hard to meet port user¿s requirement for rapid clearance of cargo. He claimed that PICT was the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only one to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. The terminal has been financed by the International Finance Corporation- a member of the World Bank group, and is also first private sector project to be financed by the Opec fund for international development. He said that PICT has also installed a state of the art container scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo.

News Title: PICT TERMINAL HANDLES THE LARGEST CONTAINER VESSELS TO CALL AT PAKISTANI PORTS

Date: 3/26/2010 12:00:00 AM

Ref: PRESS RELAEASE

Full Story:

Karachi, 26th March 2010: Container Vessel ¿Wan Hai 605¿ of WAN HAI Shipping Line and capacity of carrying 6039 TEU berthed at PICT berths at Karachi Port. Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd (¿PICT¿) is handling the vessels of the shipping services comprising of the largest container vessels to call Pakistani Ports. The upgraded CSG / CMS Services is a Far East service which has three shipping lines as partners: Wan Hai Line, K Line and PIL, and is the first Liner Service to bring vessels of over 6,000 TEU (¿Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Unit¿) capacity to Pakistan. The vessel WAN HAI 605 has capacity of 6039 TEUS and length 276 meters. The vessel has 40 meter Beam and GRT 66,197 MT and will handle 3,000 TEU during this call at Karachi Port. KPT will get enhanced revenues due to increased tonnage. Pakistan trade i.e. Import & Export will get benefit due to economies of sales. On this occasion, the Chairman of PICT, Capt. Haleem Siddiqui, stated that by the Grace of God PICT has completed all its development phases at an investment cost of USD 150 million and is now attracting the largest vessels to call at Pakistan. This is a success story for Karachi Port which ¿ under the leadership of the Minister Ports and Shipping and the Chairperson KPT ¿ has made great strides in enhancing the handling capacity of the Karachi Port by induction two modern tugs in the KPT fleet recently and with the deepening of channel. PICT is a state-of-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over half a million TEUs (¿Twenty foot equivalent container units¿) in the financial year 2008-2009. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Development. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation ¿ a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-art Container Scanner for non-intrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is over US $150 million.

News Title: NEW PICT BRIDGE INAUGURATED

Date: 12/11/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS

Full Story:
(PR) ¿ Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Minister for Ports and Shipping, inaugurated the new bridge of PICT which marked a new development of port infrastructure by the private sector. Capt Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman PICT, in his speech explained that PICT has undertaken the development of a new bridge along with an eight lane gate house to expand its gate capacity. The cost of the bridge is Rs. 230 million which is unique in its design to cater for the heaviest traffic emanating from the port. NESPAK provided the design consultancy for the bridge and the bridge was completed in two years time. Chairman PICT also appreciated the support of the Minister for Port and Shipping, the management of Karachi Port Trust and the trade and industry for their continued support in making PICT a success. PICT is a state-of-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled over half a million TEU¿s (twenty foot equivalent container units) in financial year 2008-2009. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state of art Container Scanner for non intrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is around US$ 150 million.

News Title: NO HARM IF DISTRICT GOVT TAKES OVER GAWADAR PORT AFFAIRS (MINISTER)

Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: THE NEWS e-PAPER

Full Story:
KARACHI: minister for ports and shipping Babar Khan Ghauri has said that if the Gawadar port is given under the city district Government to run its affairs there is no harm in it. ¿We will support this for the development and progress of the port, local people and the area ¿he said. Gawadar port is to be used for transshipment and in this regards work is under the progress and the main hurdle is land dispute, he said, adding, ¿We are looking at this matter and trying to solve it so the port can be fully operational.¿ He said this at the inauguration of the Pakistan international container terminal (PICT) Bridge. He added that latest and modern scanner are being installed at the port Qasim with us government¿s support ant more advance and modern scanner will b installed at the other ports as well with their support. Ghauri said that there is a need to combat extremism and terrorism to sustain development and modernization, adding uncertain law and order situation will shatter the progress and development of the country. Pakistan international container terminal (PICT) is the only Pakistani terminal operator with high growth and is performing much better than others. He added that in the second phase the bridge would be connected with M.A Jinnah Road. Captain Haleem Siddiqui, Chairman PICT, said that PICT has undertaken development of a new bridge along with an eight ¿lane gatehouse to expand its gate capacity. The cost of the bridge is Rs230 million and is designed consultancy was provide by NESPAK. He added that PICT is very actively developing the port infrastructure and said the next year in March PICT will start online records of inward and outward cargo on entry and exit gates. PICT handles over half a million TEU in financial year 2008-09. Nasreen Haque, Chairperson Karachi Port Trust, speaking on the occasion briefed about KPT¿s progress and ongoing and future projects. She added the KPT is also pursuing landlord port doctrine which helps to better complete with regional ports and meet ever growing challenge of international and regional sea-trade. In this regards, an example of success of landlord port strategy is PICT, which has shortest possible time.

News Title: RS 230 MILLION BRIDGE ADDED TO $150m PICT INFRASTRUCTURE

Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI

Full Story:
Karachi : with the opening of a new 330-metre long post-tensioned box girder bridge constructed by Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at a cost of Rs 230 million ,federal Minister for ports and shipping Babar Khan Ghauri on Saturday said , his ministry would not object if the federal government decided to hand over Gwadar Port to the concerned district government in Balochistan. Further, the volume of private sector investment in the `Pakistanis-run¿ container terminal has crossed $150 million level. Addressing the inauguration ceremony o f `PICT Bridge¿ along with an eight lane `Gate House¿ here at PICT on Saturday, the minister said his ministry would have no objection if the federal government decided to hand over possession of the Gwadar port to Balochistan government. Ghauri said with the help of the US, the government had installed state-of-the art scanners at Port Qasim and would soon do the same at Karachi Port to make the country¿s seaborne trade, specially the US-bound cargo, safer. Out of three counter terminals KICT,QICT and PICT, the later was the one completely owned and run by Pakistanis and growing at a pace faster than its two competitors, he added. He said in the second phase the bridge would be connected to M A jinnah Road. Lauding KPT and PICT management efforts for undertaking a ¿remarkable¿ development at the two ports. The minister said that no fruit of the infrastructure development could be reaped in the absence of peace. Condemning the terrorist attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi which he said, had created a sense of paranoia among the masses, he blamed the ¿Political mullas¿ (clerics) for all such deadly incidents. ¿Those religious organizations, mosques and madrassahs, which are creating and supporting terrorists, should be made accountable through stoppage of fund and support,¿ he said Earlier, KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque underline various projects undertaken by the KPT in and outside PICT, Which made remarkable progress since its inception ,was an example success of the KPT¿s landlord port strategy. She said despite the recessionary trend prevailing worldwide comparing previous financial year activities with FY 2004 ¿ 2005, KPT had ensured gain in container handling ,where a growth of 37 percent registered, taken the figure from .9 million TEU¿s to 1.249 million TEU¿s According to her, the handling of dry cargo at Karachi Port had increased by 65 percent to 25.36 million tons while total cargo handling had surged by 35 percent. Sharique A. Siddiqui Director and Chief Operating officer of PICT, highlighted salient features of the newly built bridge. He said that adding the bridge comprised two carriageways each for import and export and heaving three truck lanes. It had specially been designed to cater for heavy port traffic loads by using special type steel false work in its construction work. Embankment retaining walls comprise of keystone Retaining Wall with Geo Grid Membrane system provided by the ENVICRETE and had been used for the first time in Pakistan as a structure components of a bridge, the COO said Sharique also told the gathering that total investment in PICT was over $150 million. PICT chairman Captain Haleem Siddiqui told the ceremony ,which was attended by a large number of guest representing various institution of the ports and shipping industry, that PICT had developed the bridge along with a Gate House to expend its ¿gate capacity¿. He said that the bridge, designed by National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak), was completed in two years and was unique in its design to cater for the heaviest traffic emanating from the port.

News Title: PORTS RECORD 10PC GROWTH DESPITE RECCESSION

Date: 12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: DAWN BUSINESS

Full Story:
KARACHI, DEC 5: Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghori said on Saturday that due to financial crunch many ports around the world recorded a negative growth but Pakistani ports overall achieved 10 percent growth. He said that delay in developing link roads and railway line with hinterland kept the Gawadar port non-functional for along and ultimately the present government on the directive of the Prime Minister began to handle public sector cargo. However, the minister stressed that Gawadar port should be used for transshipment and for this purpose the government had already started to acquire surrounding land required for ports. Babar Ghori was speaking at the inauguration of the pict bridge (phase-1) and said that the federal government would not have any objection if the provincial government like to run the Gawadar port. He said that it was the right of the people of the area benefit from any such facility and the benefit of all the natural resources should first go to the local people. The minister was pleased to know that the Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) owned by a Pakistan company has archived fabulous growth of 200 percent last year and had also achieved all development target much ahead of schedule. He said presently there were three container terminals operating in the country two are run by well-established and reputed foreign operators but the PICT is being run by a Pakistani company. However, the minister felt unhappy over the present state of affairs of many institutions and said that the desert country like Dubai only 90 minutes away from Pakistan developed so fast that it become icon and trade hub of the region. But Pakistan which was better placed and at the time of independence got fairly large developed infrastructure is presently lagging behind and most of ¿our ¿institutions have deteriorated ¿. Capt Haleem Siddiqui, chairman PICT said that the terminal was fully financed by IFC and Opec Fund and local bank is involved in funding this project. He said that the terminal had installed its own scanner and have it power generation system, All equipment which were supposed to b installed much latter had been already included in the inventory due to rapid growth of the terminal. Ms Nasreen Haque, chair person KPT speaking on the occasion said that the Karachi port is the premier port of the country and has under taken flagship project of deep water container port with 18 meter draft.

News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE)

Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009)

Full Story:
Would you like to suggest remedies for its betterment? Pakistani port should operate under a proper laid out master plan where development in specialized cargo field (dry bulk handling, liquid cargo handling, container handling etc.) should be planned an executed in a professional manner. This mean that the individual ports should work in sync under one national development policy framework to encourage private investment in the port rather than every port coming up with project on an ad hoc basis and total disharmony with what is being planned at the other ports. The terminal should be allocate dare as to develop inland container depots with proper instructor (port connectivity through rail and road) to ease congestion at the ports and the city center. The government also needs to rationalize the tariff of both the port tariff. Also there should be a level playing field for the entire terminal in Pakistan where same standard and tariff apply so that inefficiencies and discrimination should not be there. Of course, I will say that Pakistani entrepreneurs should be given incentives by the government to encourage Pakistani business houses to grow. As is apparent, all commercial Pakistani cargo is now carried by foreign carriers and majority of all the containerized cargo in Pakistan is being handled but foreign owned terminal in the country, local business houses should be given an equal opportunity to complete in development project- where we have seen recently that any port project have set discriminatory terms for participation for the local enterprises. Would you like to share with us the future plan s of your company? Phase-wise development, to build capacity up to 550,000teu, has been completed in 2008 .PICT has commenced phase 4 development to enhanced capacity to 750,000TEU per annum. PICT is now constructing an inland container depot (ICD) at northern by pays in Karachi on 16.5acres. Scheduled for completion by mid 2010, the pict ICD will ease congestion at the Karachi port and enhance PICT`s handling capacity. Our parent company, PMS, is also developing an ICD at Lahore Prem Nagar with railways¿ linkage on 30 acres which wil allow us to provide logistics solution to our customers in Lahore directly at their doorstep.

News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE)

Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009)

Full Story:
How do you market your services? The shipping lines calling Pakistan are the client of the terminals. All of them have local offices in Pakistan and have controlling regional head quarters. We market our facilities and internationally, additionally, we provide a one ¿window facilitation center for all documentation and processing for the importers and exporters who use our facility. In your opinion, how much has the global economics recession affected trade in Pakistan? In my opinion, Pakistan has not borne brunt of the global economics recession simply because we are not as globally dependent as major industrial nations or trading hubs. From our perspective, we saw some downturn in cargo hanrecorey in container handling from this year on word. The reason is that Pakistan continues to mostly handsets own indigenous growth may have been hampered due to the prevailing global and local recession. But the quantum of trade which caters to Pakistan`s own import demand and export supply has continued to be fairly stable in terms of container handling. What is the present state of the cargo and shipping industries? Globally, shipping lines are suffering tremendously due to excessive capacity building .when times were good; the shipping lines overstretched themselves by ordering large ships and in great number. Now when global trade lanes are faced with diminished demand and lesser cargo is flowing on those trade routes, the ships and container slot available to transport that cargo is in much excess to what is presently needed. Hence the freight rates have fallen due to excessive capacity. What is the approximate annual revenue that this industry generates? Is it flourishing or lagging behind? As PICT is the only public listed container terminal with transparent publication of its account icon only surmise about the rest of the industry and assume that the total approximate annual renewed of the container handling of industry and Pakistan would b above US$200 million the container terminal are Pakistan are very dynamic and operate of international standard of efficacy there are in total three container terminal in Pakistan ( QICT, KICT , and PICT ) and all there are aggressively, expanding their capacities and investing in the ports to modernize cargo handling in the country and meet the future needs of trade. What are the major challenge that are faced by this industry ? The main challenge are congestion in the port due to the unavailability of area to expand the terminal facility .the dwell time for cargo clearance from the customs is also into rise which leads to less productive handling at the ports there is a death of professionalism in the trucking industry in Pakistan which leads to frequent strikes and lack of supply in the time of end like Eid Holydays, etc.

News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING ( BY SHARIQUE SIDDIQUI)

Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009)

Full Story:
Completed his high education at Aitcheson College (Lahore). He then went on to join tufts University in the US where he purchased an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in Economics. After returning to Pakistan Sharique joined his family business in 2007. As Director and Chief Operating Officer of PICT he shares details of the business and the container handling industry in an exclusive interview with Export times. How and when was Pict established? The sponsor of pict, premier Mercantile services (PMS) pvt . Ltd, has been operating at the Karachi port since 1964 as a stevedore. KPT invited bids for the development of a container terminal in the year 1999 in which PMS gave the best bids and the project was awarded to PMS in 2002. Pakistan international container terminal Ltd.(pict) was formed in 2002 as a terminal operating company for the project to design ,construct, operate and transfer after 21 years a modern container terminal at berths 6-9 East wharf, Karachi port. What changes do you see in competition these days? Is the market any different now? Pict inters the container handling market when Pakistan economy was growing at a healthy rate for over six percent per annum. Trade ease growing over 10 percent per annum and containerized cargo handling was subsequently growing significantly every year. with an intensive focus on capacity building, PICT undertook all its development phases within five year- one after the other and built up more capacity to handle container in the first five year of the project than what was committed to KPT over the 21 year life of the BOT project . In 21 year, we had to build capacity to handle 450,00 TEU (`Twenty Foot Equivalent container Units¿)but focused investment and container our expansion, PICT is now handling half a million container per annum in the first few year our inception.

News Title: AN EARLY RECOVERY IN CONTAINER HANDLING (CONTINUE)

Date: 12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: EXPORTIMES (DECEMBER 2009)

Full Story:
How does PICT maintain its edge over competitor? What step have you recently taken to upgrade facilities? Firstly, PICT had the advantage of commencing commercial operation within six weeks of establishing the project .this was achieved by taking over the existing equipment of our parent company and commencing dedicate container terminal operation immediately upon inception. Fortunately, PICT has been generating positive cash flow from day one of our development phases in the time and within our allocated budget. In the last five year, the total investment in PICT has been over us$100 million, which has enabled us to build a state ¿of-art container handling facility at the East Wharf at Karachi port. By the grace of God, in the successful commissioning of the project, PICT has broken new ground in the following ways. PICT is the only container terminal in Pakistan that has been sponsored and is owned by Pakistanis. It is the only port infrastructure project whose shares are quoted on the Karachi stock Exchange. It is the first port infrastructure project in Pakistan financed by the international Finance Corporation (IFC)-the private arm of the World Bank. It is the first private sector project in Pakistan in which the OPEC fund for international development has participated as financers. PICT is also the first container terminal in Pakistan to install the latest container scanning system with dual imaging capability (from the top an side of the container) And 6 me V X-Ray acceleration technology. PICT has acquired 10 latest electric rubber tyred gantry cranes (E-RTGs) in 2008 that are dual powered. These RTGS are the first to b installed in Pakistan and more cost efficient as well as friendly enjoinment PICT operator with 20th rubber tyred gantry cranes in our yard area of 200,000 square meters. PICT has also installed the first quayside cranes in Pakistan that can lift two empty containers at the same time ¿thereby doubling the cranes productivity on empty container moves. PICT has six quayside cranes and two mobile harbor cranes. PICT is also the fourth terminal in the world to install the navis N$ as a terminal operating system .N$ automates the yard and vessel planning and is the latest version of Navis SPARCS software which is operated at nearly 200 marines terminal globally.

News Title: RACE FOR CAPCITY BUILDING IN THE PORTS OF PAKISTN (CONTINUE)

Date: 10/29/2009 1:00:00 AM

Ref: DAILY DAWN

Full Story:
PICT has sped through the completion of its three expansion phases in only five years that were envisaged to be completed over 21 years life of the BOT concession, building capacity for handling 550,000 TEU per annum which will be further expanded to 750,000 TEU per annum. The extraordinary expansion of the ports is not limited to the above mentioned existing container terminals. Karachi Port has awarded a concession for the construction of a new port mega project, Karachi Deep Water Container Port, to Hutchison Port Holdings Limited ("HPH") for building capacity beyond 1.5 million TEU per annum with a quay wall of 1500 meters in the first Phase. Yard storage area earmarked is 65 hectares, draught is planned at 16 meters depth and the project is designed to cater for the handling of the largest container vessels currently afloat. The race for building handling capacity is also not restricted to containerized operations only. Gwador Port has engaged Port of Singapore Authority ("PSA") for multipurpose cargo handling at Gwador with an aim to capture some of the transshipment container traffic of the region. KPT had allowed a dedicated bulk cement handling facility to be built at the West Wharf berths that contributed to enormous growth in cement handling at Karachi Port - surging from only 2,767 tons of cement export handling in the year 2000 to 3.8 million tons of cement handling in 2008-9 at Karachi Port. Port Qasim Authority ("PQA") has recently inaugurated a modern liquid cargo terminal at Port Qasim and inaugurated an LPG Terminal in 2007 - in addition to two already built dedicated liquid cargo terminals at Port Qasim. PQA has also awarded a concession for the construction of a Grain and Fertilizer Terminal which is underway. Furthermore, PQA has announced plans to build a Coal, Clinker and Cement Terminal and is working on LNG Terminals at Port Qasim. The private sector initiative for investments in the ports in Pakistan has led to an unprecedented growth in cargo handling facilities which has been spurred on by the growth of the economy in the last decade but shows no sign of weakening even in the face of the current global and local economic downturn. The capacity calculations have been taken as up to 130,000 TEU per annum per 100 running meters of quay wall/berth and the details of the Terminal's expansion phases have been quoted from their own respective company briefs/websites and articles appearing in the press. The annual statistics mentioned are during the financial Year from July to June)

News Title: RACE FOR CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE PORTS OF PAKISTAN (BY DIRECTOR & C.O.O PICT)

Date: 10/29/2009 1:00:00 AM

Ref: Daily Dawn

Full Story:
Pakistani ports have been engaged in a supercharged drive for capacity-building, driven by the private sector investment in cargo handling. Pakistan has three main container terminals: Qasim International Container Terminal ("QICT") in Port Qasim, Karachi International Container Terminal ("KICT") and Pakistan International Container Terminal ("PICT") at Karachi Port. In the mid-1990's, the Port Authorities privatized the berths at the port in line with the internationally practiced concept of "landlord port" whereby the port retains the ownership of the port area, yet privatizes the port operations to the private sector which then modernizes the cargo handling through investment to meet international standards of productivity. The port authority then gains from royalties and land rental that emanate from the port operator. The concept has had a resounding success in Pakistan: private sector investment in the ports have paved the path for opening the trade ways of Pakistan, creating capacity in the ports and enabling the trade of the country to flow efficiently. The total trade (imports plus exports) of the country in the financial year 1998 was almost USD 19 billion (USD 8.6 billion of exports and USD 10.1 billion of imports). In a decade, the total trade in the year 2008 has tripled to USD 60 billion (USD 19 billion of exports and USD 39.9 billion of imports). Almost all of the trade is seaborne with a very small percentage carried by air transport. The growth in the economy has compelled the trade to expand, leading to an unprecedented drive to modernize the ports so that the influx of cargo at the ports can be handled efficiently to sustain the trade flows. This has led to a frenzied drive by the port operators to keep on expanding their cargo handling capabilities in a very challenging and demanding environment. QICT commenced operations in 1997 as the first established container terminal of the country at Port Qasim which was designed to handle up to 400,000 TEU (TEU: Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Unit) per annum. KICT commenced operations in 1998 also designed to handle up to 400,000 TEU per annum. PICT commenced operations in 2002 designed to handle 450,000 TEU per annum. Total containers handled at the ports in 1997-98 were around 667,000 TEU. After 10 years, the country's total container handling stands at 1,992,953 TEU in 2007-2008: a growth of 200 percent over 10 years. Almost all the 2 million TEU (ninety five percent to be exact) were handled by the three container terminals, QICT, HICT and PICT. In these 10 years, with the over whelming surge in containerized traffic in Pakistan (especially in the last five years), all the terminals have been feverishly increasing their equipment and berth capacity, acquiring more area within the port as well as utilizing areas outside their own port premises, and constantly investing in their systems to improve their efficiency (training a skilled set of labour, information technology, communication and security systems etc). QICT is now doubling its existing facility to build capacity for handling an additional 1.175 million TEU per annum, which will bring its total handling capacity to 2.175 million TEU per annum. Capacity expansion is being done through constructing an additional quay wall, increasing their berth size from 600 meters to 1,327 meters as well adding 15 hectares more storage area to their existing 24 hectares of area. KICT has also undertaken rigorous capacity building, increasing their berths from 600 meters to 973 meters, deepened their alongside depth and expanded their storage area to 26 hectares, thereby building handling capacity to well over 1 million TEU per annum. PICT has expanded through investments in its equipment, storage and access areas, expanding from handling 83,000 TEU in 2003, to handling 513,000 TEU in 2008-2009.

News Title: COAL, CEMENT AND CLINKER TERMINAL: PICT TO BUILD $175 MILLION `POLLUTION FREE¿ FACILITY AT PORT QASIM

Date: 8/21/2009 1:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER

Full Story:
KARACHI (August 07 2009): Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) are all set to sign an implementation agreement to develop the 'pollution free' Coal, Cement and Clinker Terminal (CCCT) worth $175 million at Port Qasim. According to sources, PQA has issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) to PICT last Wednesday after which the two sides started negotiating the modalities for establishing the specialised terminal. After successful negotiations the matter would be referred to Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCOI) for approval, they added. "The project is being undertaken under the landlord concept ensuring that it would earn more royalty for PQA with low tariff rates at the proposed terminal," Chairman PQA Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi (Retd) told Business Recorder. According to sources the required formalities would take at least a month after which the two port operators would sign the implementation agreement. The sources said the CCCT, a state-of-the-art facility to be constructed on 32-year Built-Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis at Port Qasim, would have a handling capacity of up to eight million tons per year. The terminal would have the capacity to accommodate coal, clinker and cement vessels of 75,000 dead weight tonnage, they said. They said that PICT would be required to execute the implementation agreement within 120 days with PQA after acceptance of the LOI. The most special thing about the facility, the source said, would be that its modern equipment which would not create any air pollution, as was the case at the coal terminal at Karachi Port. They said big mountains of powdery coal, lying and being handled in open/bulk on dedicated berths at Karachi Port, are not only inflicting irreparable damages upon the environment, but also causing various respiratory diseases, like tuberculosis, asthma etc, among the poor people living in areas adjacent to the port. "State-of-the-art equipment would be there to handle the coal at the pollution-free terminal, where cement and clinker would also be handled in future," the sources said. The PQA chief eyes the project as a 'step forward' in the development of PQA in terms of capacity enhancement. "The project would enhance the port's capacity manifold, all the developed and developing mega projects at PQA could be possible because of the proactive strategy of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri", he added.

News Title: MISC's upgraded Halal Express Service Calls PICT.

Date: 4/21/2009 1:00:00 AM

Ref: "MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI

Full Story:
KARACHI : MISC¿s vessel M.V. Bunga Raya Dua arrived at PICT the other day to mark the inaugural vessel call of the MISC¿s upgraded Halal Express Service. The upgraded MISC service deploys 6X4250 TEU vessels comprising of one of the largest vessels calling Karachi Port. The new service will cover the Far East, South East Asia, Indian Sub-continent and the Middle East, and will be operated independently by MISC. The service will be unique in offering a ¿Double Dip¿ at Karachi i.e both East Bound and West Bound vessels will be calling Karachi (PICT Terminal) with 104 expected calls per annum. PICT is a state of the art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and as a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT operates with six Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled 475,000 TEU¿s in the financial year 2007-2008. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation- a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. PICT is also the first terminal in Pakistan to install a state-of-art Container Scanner for nonintrusive examination of cargo. The total investment in PICT is over US$100 million.

News Title: MALAYSIA STARTS 'DOUBLE DIP' SHIPPING SERVICE FOR PAKISTAN

Date: 4/21/2009 1:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI

Full Story:
KARACHI: Malaysia has commenced its upgraded Halal Express Service (HES) for Pakistan with The maiden call of a large vessel at Pakistan international container Terminal (PICT) on Monday. The volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia was recorded at $1.8 billion during Last year; Malaysia deputy high Commission to Pakistan Mohammad Khalid Abdul Razak told in a ceremony held at PICT to mark the commencement of HSE. The event was attended by the Managing Director, ISPI Corporation (Pvt) Limited, Kareem Ispahani, former Malaysia Ambassador And politico-industrial tycoon, Zia Isphani and Captain Mahzan, the master of MV Bunga Raya Dua, which has 12-meter draft and 2500 TEUs onboard. Commenting on the trade volume of Pakistan, the Chairman PICT, Captain Haleem A Siddique told Business Recorder that global recession had shrunk the trade volume of the country by more than 20 percent. However, Monday `s arrival of the ship would usher in a new era at Karachi Port, which under HES would frequently be visited by 14 meter draft `s larger vessel of MISC Berhad, the national flag carrier of Malaysia. Addressing the occasion, MD ISIP Corporation, which is an exclusive agent of MISC Berhad in Pakistan, said his firm, which was the world¿s top carriers of LNG cargo, would ensure 104 calls annually to Karachi port. Highlighting the prominent features of the new service, he said in line with its aim to serve the ever-growing needs of the Pakistani and Gulf consumers, MISC Berhad had upgrade HES by deploying larger vessels and offering wider port coverage with additional direct calls. Further MISC would be deploying 6x4,250-TEU class vessel, to be among the largest ones calling at Karachi port, an a 42 days round voyage, he added. The new service, which would cover Far East, South East Asia, Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East , would be operated by MISC independently on the following port rotation: Shanghai /Ningbo/Shekou/Jakarta/Singapore/Port of Tanjung Pelepas/Port Kelang/Karachi /Jebel Ali/Bandar Abbas/Karachi/Nhava Sheva/Colombo/Port Kelang/Singapore/Shanghai. The new service would be unique by virtue of its `Double Dip¿ at Karachi, calling PICT both on the West Bound as well as East Bound voyages, Ispahani added. The HSE would also offer the fastest route from Port Kelang to Karachi. With the addition of Jakarta into its new port rotation MISC would also be the only carrier to have a direct service from Indonesia to Pakistan and the Middle East. We have requested the Karachi port trust (KPT) to rationalize its port tariffs, inline with its regional competitors, he said. Looking forward more cooperation, Malaysia¿s Deputy High Commission, Mohammad Khalid Abdul Razzak said that the two brotherly countries had been the time-tested friends in good as well as bad times. He said that out of total $1.8 billion bilateral trade between Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur, the former's contribution was $ 150 million only in terms of export to his country. Restricting his speech to a vote of thanks on the occasion , the PICT Chief, Captain Haleem later told Business Recorder that the KPT was committed to ensuring a 14-meter deep channel at Karachi Port, which was striving to accommodate big vessel. Asked about the trader¿ longstanding complaints on sky-high terminal handling charges (THC) at PICT, Siddiqui said , `We would certainly charge the traders for the service we provide to them.' Furthermore, ruling out the possibility of reducing the THC, he said the KPT was considering to slash the `port dues¿ to make Karachi Port more attractive for business. The director and Chief Operation Officer of PICT Sharique A Siddique however said that factors like an indigenous nature of Pakistan¿s trade, a record handling of 49,500 TEUs at PICT in March, would help Pakistan recover fast.

News Title: PICT MAY GET CONTRACT FOR COAL, CLINKER TERMINAL AT PORT QASIM

Date: 4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI

Full Story:
ISLAMABAD : Port Qasim Authority (PQA) is likely to award the contract for setting up of coal and clinker/cement terminal at the Port Qasim to M/s Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT). Sources told Business Recorder that PQA has sought the approval of the government to negotiate awarding a contract to successful bidder ¿ PICT is setup to said terminal at Port Qasim. Sources in PQA said that the PQA Board held its meeting on March 11, 2009. The summary of the case providing all the details regarding steps taken for evaluation of the technical and financial proposals and the recommendations of PQA in-house committee was presented in the PQA Board meeting. The board was informed that PQA in-house committee upon conclusion of the competitive bidding process cleared the bidder and allowed the authority to seek approval from the government to negotiate and award the contract to the successful bidder. Following issuance of the board resolution, PQA has forwarded the case of the project on BOT basis to the ports and shipping Ministry for approval, so as to negotiate and award the contract to the successful bidder. This master plan was duly approved by the government of Pakistan for setting up a coal and clinker/cement terminal designed to handle 75,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) bulk carriers. It will be a Greenfield development without PAQ or government funding and guarantee of throughput for a concession period of 20 years on BOT basis extendable for further 30 years on mutual agreed terms and conditions. In the event of disagreement of terms and conditions the project company shall be obliged to transfer entire assets to PAQ at Re1 only .Expression of interests (EoIs) for the project was invited through press on July 30, 2006 and six companies submitted their EoIs . The process of selection of the firm as per laid down criteria was carried out by PAQ in-house committee and PQA¿s consultant M/S Nespak, who recommended PICT for the terminal at Port Qasim on BOT basis.

News Title: KPT INCREASES DRAFT BERTHS

Date: 2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER KARACHI

Full Story:
The Karachi Port has increased its existing draft of berth to 12 meters to facilitate the shipping companies already calling at Karachi Port. Sharing her vision with the Management Executives and port stake-holders, KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque pointed out that Karachi Port is the principal port of Pakistan which provides modern facilities to port users and stake holders. At Karachi Port, she said cargo ships call round the clock. It is in fact the only port in Pakistan, which handles variety of cargo including dangerous cargo with adequate safeguards. She said no delays occur at Karachi Port as far as the berthing of vessels is concerned because of efficient management of the system.

News Title: ARABIAN EXPRESS SERVICE LANUCHED WITH EVERGREEN'S VESSEL CALL AT PICT

Date: 1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS "KARACHI JANUARY 16, 2009

Full Story:
The first vessel of Evergreen Line for Arabian Express Service, Uni Angel, called PICT the other day. The vessel discharged 150 TEU¿s and loaded 383 TEU¿s during its twelve hours stay at berth, said a press release. Evergreen Line has launched its new combined built services with Seaconsortium on 27th Dec 2008. The new joint ASX is a weekly service with port rotation as follow: Colombo, Kandla, Mundra, Karachi, Nhava Sheva and back to Colombo. PICT is a state of the art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a twenty one year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT has completed its development phase much earlier than scheduled and has installed four Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes in October 2008 as part of its Phase 4 development plans, PICT now operates with 6 Quayside Cranes and twenty Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes. PICT handled 475,000 TEU¿s in the financial year 2007-2008.

News Title: PICT PHASE FOUR ON TRACK FOR COMPLETION IN JUNE

Date: 10/23/2008 1:00:00 AM

Ref: Lloyd's List (Worldwide Marine Insurance)

Full Story:
The fourth phase of Pakistan's private sector terminal, Pakistan International Container Terminal, will be completed in June 2009 to handle 750,000 teu per year, according to PICT director Sharique Azim Siddiqui. He told Lloyd's List that PICT commenced phase-III and phase-IV at a cost of $65m in 2007. This was five years earlier than the scheduled target date and due to the growth of container handling at the terminal. He said that the terminal had imported two quayside cranes and ten rubber tyred gantry cranes that will add to PICT's existing four quayside cranes and ten RTGs. The new cranes have the added capability of lifting two 20 feet containers together at one time. The latest equipment is part of the phase-IV Expansion of PICT, which will significantly increase the terminal's annual handling capacity.

News Title: PICT HANDLED 475,000 teu in 2007-2008

Date: 10/23/2008 1:00:00 AM

Ref: Lloyd's List (Worldwide Marine Insurance)

Full Story:
PICT located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. It operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

News Title: PRESS RELEASE

Date: 10/5/2008 1:00:00 AM

Ref: PRESS RELEASE

Full Story:
Karachi 08th October 2008: ZPMC Vessel "Zhenhua 5" berthed at Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd. ("PICT") today laden with two Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes belonging to PICT. The new equipment will add to PICT's existing four Quayside Cranes and ten Rubber Tyred Gantry ("RTG") Cranes. The equipment is brand new from ZPMC China which is the global leader in port cranes manufacturing. The new Quayside Cranes have the added capability of lifting two 20 feet containers together at one time. Furthermore, the new RTG Cranes which are used for storage in the container yard, have the latest technology of being dual powered: through diesel fuel and also through electric power. Electric powered RTGs will burn less fuel and as such be both cost effective and environment friendly. The latest Equipment is part of the Phase 4 Expansion of PICT which will significantly increase PICT's annual handling capacity. PICT handled 475,000 TEUs in the financial year 2007-2008. PICT is a state-of-the-art container terminal located at the East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT operates under a 21 year concession from Karachi Port and is a successful model of public-private partnership between the Karachi Port and the private sector. PICT has completed its development phases much earlier than scheduled and have invested in the port of Karachi much in excessive to the contractual commitment¿s contained in the concession agreement with KPT. PICT is the only container terminal in the country to be fully owned by Pakistanis and is also the only terminal to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. PICT also has the distinction of being financed by the International Finance Corporation - a member of the World Bank Group, and is also the first Pakistani private sector project to be financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. The total cost of developing PICT is over US $ 100 million. Sharique Siddiqui ( Director Projects / Chief Operating Officer )

News Title: MAC ANDREWS ANNOUNCES NEW SWAX SERVICE AT PICT

Date: 1/25/2005 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, January 25, 2005

Full Story:
Pakistan International Container Terminal "PICT" held a ceremony recently to welcome the arrival of the new service of Mac Andrews Shipping Line at PICT terminal. The new "SWAX" service has a port rotation of Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Jebel Ali, Dar es Salam, Mombasa and Khorfaakkan. Two vessels are deployed in the SWAX service, which are operated jointly by CMA shipping Line and Mac Andrew Shipping Line. The vessels currently call at Karachi twice a month. The first SWAX service vessel Mikiri Green called at the terminal on January 8th and was handled within 12 hours by PICT. The second vessel, Hanseduo, called PICT and was also handled within the same time period. The welcoming ceremony was attended by the Managing Director of Mac Andrews Shipping Line, Mr. Geoff Smith and other senior shipping personnel. PICT management welcomed the arrival of Mac Andrews service and was pleased to note that PICT had been chosen as the terminal of choice in Pakistan for the new SWAX service. Mac Andrews Shipping Line is represented by their agents in Pakistan, Portlink International Services (Pvt) Ltd. The Mac Andrews representatives praised the high productivity of PICT terminal and expressed satisfaction at the quality of services provided by the new state-of-the-art container terminal facility, which commenced operation recently in April 2004 with its new equipment.

News Title: SHIPPING POLICY MUST BERE-ENGINEERED : AZIZ

Date: 12/5/2004 12:00:00 AM

Ref: THE NEWS "KARACHI, DECEMBER 05, 2004

Full Story:
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed Ministry of Communication to Update, change and re-engineer the shipping policy announced in the year 2002. Addressing the inaugural function of Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at East Wharf of Karachi Port Trust, Prime Minister said, "We want to induct private sector into direct shipping". However, he also announced to promote and protect the state enterprise - Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) - by saying that government will encourage new induction of ships and provide support for the financial health of ailing PNSC. Prime Minister on behalf of Chairman Karachi port Trust (KPT) announced that draft of berths of KPT has been deepened up to 11 meters and government intends to increase the depth to 16 meters, which will enable bigger ships to anchor at KPT in coming months. He said although the present PNSC was much better than the previous PNSC, there is a need to buy more ships and government will extend its support to PNSC in this regard. He said that the government was disappointed by the private sector over non-requisition of new ships under the shipping policy. Nevertheless, Prime Minister said government wants to encourage the establishment of Pakistani flag carriers as soon as possible and in the regards will provide every concession and facility. He said "government is gully behind such initiatives and expects the private sector to continue with same zeal to make our ports and shipping efficient and competitive in the region". Praising the financial and growth performance of the KPT, Prime Minister said, "the improving profitability and strong financial health of KPT is certainly gratifying It has provided a great opportunity to KPT to contribute to development that can facility the needs of rapidly growing economy". "It is heartening to fine that all its projects are not only on track but a number of them are either at completion or at advanced stage of implementation, " Shaukat said. Prime minister said the trade and commerce are the wheels of economy that move on well-equipped modern ports and effective shipping line. " Ports are our front windows that markets and trade and reflect investment climate in a country." He said to become a regional economic power, "we need to develop outstanding network of rail, road, air and maritime transport and telecommunication".

News Title: PICT CLAIMS COMPLIANCE WITH ISPS CODE

Date: 11/30/2004 12:00:00 AM

Ref: "THE NEWS" BUSINESS

Full Story:
Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited ("PICT") has announced achieving International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code compliance by the end of June 2004. According to Director Projects Sharique A. Siddiqui on Thursday "The PICT is the first terminal in Pakistan to install round the clock surveillance cameras in its terminal premises of 120,000 sq meters. "The parameter fence around the PICT has been strengthened and more stringent security measure are in place at all entry and exit point of the terminal, "the project director added. "These security measures not only make PICT compliant to ISPS, but also will enable the terminal to provide a higher quality of secure services to its customers for container handling at East Wharf, " he added. The Port and Shipping Wing Ministry of Communications, has been assigned as the designated authority under the ISPS code to issue compliance certificates to port facilities after through examination, rigorous paper work and verification.

News Title: CONSORTIUM LAUCHES NEW SERVICE AS 1,024 TEUs VESSEL CALL AT PICT

Date: 11/30/2004 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS "KARACHI, NOVEMBER 30,2004

Full Story:
Pakistan International Container Terminal ("PICT"), the newly built modern container terminal at East Wharf Karachi Port, handled the maiden call of the new service launched by the consortium of Regional Container Lines ("RCL"), NYK Line and Hapag Lloyd on 23rd November 2004. The new consortium is a significant addition to the Far East Traffic offering the fastest service to Singapore from Pakistan, said a press release. PICT in its message welcomed the arrival of the new service and was pleased to note that the consortium had chosen PICT as their terminal of choice in Pakistan. PICT operates with two new rail-mounted Quay Cranes commissioned in March 2004 and two Mobile Harbour Cranes for ship-to-shore operations, along with the newly constructed terminal facility on berth 6-9 spread over 135,000 sq. meters. PICT has deepest depth alongside the berths available amongst all the three terminals in the country i.e. 12.2 meters, which is planned to be dredged to 13.5 meters. The new weekly service brings about 1,000 TEUs per vessel to PICT significantly boosting the terminal volumes of PICT. PICT was proud to note that the maiden vessel, Cape Ferro, which had 1024 TEUs on this call, was handled in an impressive 12 hours by PICT. Mr. Sohail Shams, President of All Pakistan Shipping Association and CEO of United Marine Agencies (Pvt) Ltd. Who are shipping agents for RCL in Pakistan, praised the terminal productivity of PICT and said that it was in line with the best terminals in the region. He termed the new service as an important development for Pakistan shipping sectors as more shipping consortiums are focusing on calling Pakistan and competing with others to reduce the steaming time from Pakistan to major ports like Singapore in the case.

News Title: PICT COMMENCES OPERATIONS WITH NEW EQUIPMENT

Date: 4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Ref: MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, April 1, 2004

Full Story:
Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) held a ceremony to mark the commencement of operations of its new port handling equipment at PICT Terminal at berths 6-9, East Wharf, Karachi Port. PICT is the second container terminal project at the Karachi Port and has been set up to develop a modern container terminal facility at the East Wharf of Karachi Port. PICT has acquired state-of-the-art container handling equipment for the completion of its Phase I development at a project cost of USD 30 million. The new equipment includes 2 Quayside Container Cranes, 4 Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes, 2 Reach Stackers, 2 Empty Container Handlers, 1 Top Lifter, 10 Terminal Tractors and 20 Trailers, 2 Forklifts and 5 service vehicles. PICT has also set up its own Power Generation Plant of 5 MW capacity. PICT has been in commercial operations since 2002 with its existing container handling equipment and handled about 80,000 Twenty Foot Equivalent Container Units in 2003. This ceremony marked the commencement of operations of the new Quayside Container Cranes which will enhance the efficiency of the terminal and attract more shipping lines to the new facility. The first container vessel - "Safmarine Pakistan" - to be handled with the new Cranes was also the inaugural voyage of the new weekly Maersk Sealand Service which has commenced calling at PICT Terminal from today and is expected to significantly boost the container handling traffic at the new Terminal. PICT is the latest container terminal in the country which boasts the deepest draft facility of 13.5 meters planned depth and the Quayside Cranes with an outreach of46 meters to handle the largest vessels calling the region. PICT is the first container terminal Project in Pakistan to be listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange and is majority-owned and operated by Pakistanis. PICT made an Initial Public Offering of its shares in August 2003 to raise partial equity for the Completion of the Phase I which has been achieved earlier than the scheduled date of Mid-April 2004. PICT has raised debt from the International Finance Corporation ("IFC") -a member of the World Bank Group -and the OPEC Fund for International Development. Vice Admiral (Retd.) Ahmad Hayat, Chairman Karachi Port, was the Chief Guest at the occasion which was hosted by Capt. Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman PICT. Representatives of the Shipping Lines, Karachi Port and the Shipping Community were present on the occasion.

News Title: PRIVATE SECTOR URGED TO PLAY ROLE IN PORT PROGRESS

Date: 2/13/2004 12:00:00 AM

Ref: BUSINESS RECORDER" KARACHI, February 13, 2004

Full Story:
Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat (Retd.), Chairman Karachi Port Trust, on Thursday said, "the port could not progress without the participation of private sector.". "There are several new projects to be offered in private sector like bulk cargo handling terminal, cargo village and deepening of harbour channel, " he said while speaking at the arrival ceremony of cranes at Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT), East Wharf on Thursday. He said, "We appreciate those who were ahead of their project and we would keep supporting them.". After the completion of projects at the port, we act as a landlord port like other ports in the world, he added. Earlier, the Chairman PICT, Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the bulk of our investment goes to China, as we have brought two quay cranes, four rubber tire gantries (RTG) at a cost of $14 million imported from Shanghai's Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC), China, which is the largest supplier of container cranes and best in the world. The new quay cranes have an outreach of 46 meters, two mobile cranes and will modernize the port operations of PICT to handle larger container vessels which are currently being handled. Capt. Haleem Siddiqui said that the project is expected to achieve completion of Phase-I ahead of schedule i.e. April, this year, and most of the civil works has completed, the power generation plant of 5MW is installed and the other container handling equipment like 'reach stackers' and terminal tractors are expected to arrive before time as well. These equipments have arrived much before the delivery time and are going to be commissioned after successful completion of all tests. He said that the PICT has the deepest alongside the berths available amongst all the three terminals in the country i.e. 12.2 meters which is planned to be dredged to 13.5 meters.

News Title: IFC LOAN

Date: 12/23/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: "DAWN" KARACHI, December 23, 2003

Full Story:
International Finance Corporation and the OPEC Fund for International Development have disbursed the entire amount of their long-term loans totalling USD 17 million to the Project. The Funds have been received by PICT Bankers, which has enabled the Company to process opening of Letters of Credit on the equipment suppliers ahead of the planned schedule.

News Title: PICT SETS DATE FOR SHARE OFFERING TO THE PUBLIC

Date: 8/26/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: "MOORAD SHIPPING NEWS" KARACHI, August 26, 2003

Full Story:
Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited held a presentation to senior bankers of the country for the upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO) of PICT at the Terminal on berths 6 ¿ 9, East Wharf, Karachi Port according to a press release. At a gathering of about 50bankers, Capt. Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman of PICT, explained the Container Terminal Project which entailed procurement of state-of-the-art container handling equipment, setting up of power generation plant and completing the necessary civil works for the container stacking areas as well laying rails for Ship-to-Shore Gantry Cranes.

News Title: KSE APPROVES PROVISIONAL LISTING OF PICTL

Date: 8/19/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: "THE NEWS" KARACHI, August 19, 2003

Full Story:
Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) said on Monday that it had Approved the provisional listing and quotation of shares of Pakistan International Container Terminal Limited (PICTL) from Wednesday.

News Title: OPEC FUND SUPPORTS EXPANSION OF MAJOR PORT IN PAKISTAN

Date: 5/30/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: VIENNA (Austria), May 30, 2003

Full Story:
A private sector loan agreement for US$7.75 million was signed today between the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Pakistan International Container Terminal in Karachi, Pakistan, the most heavi1y-used port in the country. The Karachi port handles 60% of Pakistan's international trade and 80% of all container volume. The Fund loan will be used to help finance Phase I of a project to expand the port's facilities in order to stimulate trade, improve service levels and lower transport costs. Works to be carried out will include the installation of two ship-to-shore and four rubber-tired gantry cranes and other supporting equipment; construction of new buildings and workshops according to operational needs, as well as a dedicated power plant; installation of security systems and gates; construction of heavy concrete block pavement for stacking containers; and laying of dockside crane rails. The financing represents the Fund's first private sector operation in Pakistan. Development assistance totalling over US$240 million, however, has previously been directed to the public sector in the form of project loans in the sectors of energy , transportation, agriculture, national development banks, education, industry and health. In addition, the Fund has provided balance of payments support. Technical assistance grants have also been extended that supported regional programs in the areas of agriculture and health. In October 2000, an agreement for the encouragement and protection of investment was entered into between the Fund and the Government of Pakistan. Today's signing ceremony took place at the Fund's headquarters in Vienna. The agreement was signed on behalf of Pakistan International Container Terminal by Captain Haleem A. Siddiqui, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and by H.E. Dr. Saleh A. Al-Omair, Chairman of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund.

News Title: LIBERALIZATION OF INVESTMENT POLICY HINTED AT

Date: 5/18/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: "THE NEWS" KARACHI, May 18, 2003

Full Story:
Minister for Privatisation and Investment Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has hinted at further liberalisation of investment policy with regard to big infrastructure projects, to be carried out by the private sector. The federal minister said the government's regulatory framework for bigger infrastructure projects must be friendly to investors because such projects created high hopes in terms of overall benefits to the economy. He described the loan accords as very significant in the history of port and shipping and said the establishment of the terminal would generate a record income and revenue for the economy. Chairman Karachi Port Trust Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat while speaking on the occasion said, "KPT is no more a costly or inefficient port of the region and if anybody has any doubt he or she must come to KPT and I will prove my assertion by facts and figures". He, however, said KPT was open to suggestions for further improvement. Regional IFC Chief Sami Haddad said: "This is the first IFC investment in Pakistani port and shipping sector and the new terminal will be handling one lack containers annually." He said operations at Pakistan's ports were still very costly and inefficient and low productivity at the ports generated losses to the tune of 1.5 per cent of GDP of Pakistan. He was sure that with the establishment of the container terminal the cost of import and export would decrease substantially. He announced that "our investments in Pakistan will increase in coming years". He disclosed the OPEC Fund would provide a loan of $7.75 million and an agreement in that regard would be reached on May 30. He suggested granting following two concessions to bigger infrastructure projects, to be carried out by the private sector. 1. All imports consisting of technology and other equipment must be exempted from payment of advance income tax because this payment creates extra financial burden besides enhancing the cost of projects. 2. The 100 per cent mandatory cash collateral for obtaining bank guarantee should be either done away with or replaced by other financial instruments as practiced in the developed countries.

News Title: IFC FINANCES CONTAINER TERMINAL AT KARACHI PORT

Date: 5/17/2003 12:00:00 AM

Ref: KARACHI, May 17, 2003

Full Story:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement today to provide a senior loan of $7.75 million and a subordinated loan of $1.5 million to the Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd for the development and operation of a container terminal at the Karachi port under a 21-year concession agreement granted by the Karachi Port Trust. OPEC Fund is expected to provide a parallel senior loan of $7.75 million. Premier Mercantile Services (Pvt.) Ltd, a long-time Pakistani container operator at the Karachi port, is the project sponsor. Hamburg Port Consulting is expected to provide technical services. ¿PICT would be the first infrastructure project financed by IFC in Pakistan. I am also delighted that through PICT, IFC has pioneered OPEC Fund to the private sector in the country. It addition it also makes me very proud that through AKD Securities support PICT would be the first infrastructure project in the history of the country to be listed on Karachi Stock Exchange¿ said Haleem Siddiqui, Chairman PICT. This project will improve container handling efficiency at the Karachi port and benefit shipping lines, exporters and importers through lower transport costs and higher service levels. "IFC's investment will encourage trade and contribute to the overall economic growth in Pakistan," said Francisco Tourreilles, Director of IFC's Infrastructure Department. ¿IFC¿s support is essential to catalyze interests of other investors. This is especially critical given the current uncertainties faced by the region,¿ noted Sami Haddad, Regional Director of IFC. Investing in port projects has been a key part of IFC's strategy in promoting private sector participation in the infrastructure sector. Over the past ten years, IFC has invested in almost $300 million in 22 ports across 13 countries. IFC's mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's committed portfolio at the end of FY02 was $15.1 billion with an additional $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications. Senator Dr. Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Privatization and Investment was the Guest of Honour at this impressive ceremony held at Sheraton Hotel where about 250 guests mainly from the shipping community attended. The Minster praised the efforts of PICT to secure IFC financing for investment in the ports sector and called this a landmark occasion and a trend-setting example for the private sector shipping industry to follow.