The Karachi Port handled 132,745 tonnes of cargo comprising 81,662 tonnes of import cargo and 51,083 tonnes of export cargo including 5,872 loaded & empty containers during the last 24 hours ended at 0700 hours on Thursday. The total import cargo of 81,662 tonnes comprised 19,770 tonnes of containerised cargo; 13,959 tonnes of general cargo; 7,043 tonnes of bulk cargo: 2,549 tonnes of soda ash; 4,494 tonnes of DAP and 40,890 tonnes of oil/liquid cargo.

The total export cargo of 51,083 tonnes comprised 43,080 tonnes of containerised cargo; 733 tonnes of general cargo; 7,270 tonnes of bulk cargo: 151 tonnes of sugar; 5,211 tonnes of rice and 210 tonnes of flours. As many as 5,872 containers comprising 2,156 containers import and 3,716 containers export were handled during the last 24 hours on Thursday.

The brakeup of imported containers shows 538 of 20's and 339 of 40's loaded while 534 of 20's and 203 of 40's empty containers, whereas that of exported containers shows 1,161 of 20's and 590 of 40's loaded containers while 7 of 20's and 684 of 40's empty containers were handled during the business hours.

There are four ships namely STX Patraikos, Kota Gemar, Angel No 1 and Puma with two container ships, one oil tanker and one general cargo ship respectively sailed out to sea during the reported period. There are four vessels viz Naxihe, UAFL Zanzibar, Al-Badiyah and Pacific Ace with two container ships, one oil tanker and one bulk cargo ship respectively are currently at the berths.

One general cargo ship namely Pacific Wind sailed out to sea on Thursday, while two ships namely Naxihe and UAFL Zanzibar with two container ships respectively are expected to sail on Friday. A container vessel viz Vietnam Express due to arrive on Thursday, while six vessels viz APL Seattle, TS Singapore, Jolly, Shiba, OOCL Dalian and Thorco Sapphire with five container ships and one project cargo ship respectively are due to arrive on Friday. There are six ships namely Sea Moon, Ikan Serong, MT Karachi, Oriental Protea, Abtin-1 and Bon Chem with two coal carriers, two oil tankers, one containers ship and one ethanol tanker respectively are due to arrive on Saturday.

PORT QASIMA cargo volume of 75,356 tonnes comprising 65,703 tonnes of import cargo and 9,653 tonnes of export cargo inclusive 1,299 loaded & empty containers (TEUs) was handled at Port Qasim during the last 24 hours on Thursday. The total import cargo of 65,703 tonnes includes 10,768 tonnes of diesel oil; 12,900 tonnes of edible oil; 13,252 tonnes of coal; 3,217 tonnes of LPG mix; 3,537 tonnes of chemicals and 22,029 tonnes of containerised cargo.

The total export cargo of 9,653 tonnes includes 4,153 tonnes of cement; 250 tonnes of wheat and 5,250 tonnes of containerised cargo. MV Sai Eternity with wheat sailed out to sea on Thursday morning, while three more ships namely CV CGM Verdi, MV Harsanadi and MT Gas Husky with containers, chemicals and LPG mix are expected to sail on the same day afternoon.

A total number of eleven vessels viz CV CGM Verdi, CV Nedlloyd Hudson, MV Princess-K, MV Sai Eternity, MV Meta, MV Harsanadi, MV Norgas Sonoma, MV Shang Dong Hai Chang, MT Al-Salam-II, MT Gas Husky and MT Sea Pioneer are currently occupying berths to load/offload containers, cement, wheat, chemicals, coal, diesel oil, LPG mix and edible oil respectively during the last 24 hours.

As many as seven ships namely APL Atlanta, Violetta, Michaelas, Beautiful Rena, Kalama, Bhairavi and Agent Daisy with containers, rice, furnace oil, chemicals and edible oil respectively are currently at the outer anchorage of Port Qasim. There are four vessels viz CV APL Atlanta, CV Violetta, CV Michaelas and MV Bhairavi with containers and chemicals are expected to take berths at Qasim International Containers Terminal and Engro Vopak Terminal respectively on Thursday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012