KPT Chairman Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat attended the ceremony as his last program as KPT chief before handing over the charge to Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi, Director-General, Ports and Shipping, from June 1, 2008. Other participants beside Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi, were Consul-General of Germany in Karachi Hans-Joachim Kiderien, guest of honour, Deputy Director Mediterranean Services Annelie Schulmeister and representatives of social and business circles.
Shams said that UMA had taken the step after realising the growing need of a direct and fast container service to and from Karachi Port and Europe and to fulfil a decade-long demand of the traders from the two trading partners. The re-structured service of HS from Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) would not only facilitate the Pak-Europe trade but would also provide an opportunity to boost cost-effective sea transportation from Pakistan, he said.
He said the new EPIC services would provide direct maritime connection between Karachi and Europe, link northern Europe and Mediterranean with Karachi Port in the shortest transit time, link all key ports of western and eastern Mediterranean via the central hub, Gioia Tauro, and provide a wider route to larger vessels of 4,200-TEUs capacity in Europe.
On the route the shipping line would move in, the CEO UMA said, would be Hamburg-Tilbury-Amtwerp-Gioia Tauro-Jabl-e-Ali-Karachi-Mundra-Nhava Sheva-Gioia Tauro and Hamburg.
Terming Europe a highly potential market for Pakistan's value-added goods like textiles, garments, hosiery, towels, bed sheets, fabrics, etc, Shams said that timely delivery of goods to the European destinations was of vital significance.
The new EPIC service, which would ensure direct shipping of commodities within the shortest possible transit time to European markets, would not only be advantageous to the European customers but would also enhance efficiency of Pakistan's exporters in terms of timely deliveries, he added.
KPT Chairman Ahmed Hayat lauded Sohail Shams for pushing the KPT to make arrangements for accommodating deep draught vessels by conducting dredging at of the port within a short span of time.
Underlining various in and outside port developmental projects Hayat said that construction of Karachi deep water container port would give boost to exports from Pakistan. "The number of vessels bringing cargo in our country now will be taking cargo from Pakistan," he said.
He praised the Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT), the PICT, the stevedoring companies and all other port users for their concerted efforts for making the Karachi Port user-friendly. "I compliment all port users for giving us new challenges," he said. He assured HS of full support from KPT. "We would extend each and every facility we can to facilitate you," Hayat told the shipping line.
German Consul-General y in Karachi, Hans-Joachim Kiderien, and Deputy Director Mediterranean Services Annelie Schulmeister hailed KPT for an impressive infrastructure development at Karachi Port.