Delay in dredging reduces Port Qasim capacity

Karachi: The Port Qasim Authority (PQA) is unable to berth vessels of more than 10.5-meter draught at its port after months of delay in the opening of a Letter of Credit (LC) for a Belgian firm to confirm a $800 million dredging contract.

In September 2007, the PQA and Dredging International (DI) signed a one-year agreement for regular dredging of the channels at Port Qasim with the latter linking, execution of the contract with the opening of an LC in a Belgian bank.

However, the Authority took at least two months to deposit the agreed amount (in euro) in the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) as a guarantee to a Belgian bank, well-placed sources in PQA told Business Recorder on Wednesday.

'No foreign bank was ready to open LC on our behalf due to the country's high-risk status and it was only a month ago that we were able to convince the NBP to guarantee our credibility', said an official in planning department of the PQA.

This two-month delay on the part of PQA left the international firm unable to conduct a 'timely' dredging of the channel at Port Qasim, sources said.

'The channel has clogged up with silt in the wake of heavy downpours during the last monsoon and should have been dredged in October but due to a prolonged delay in LC opening the PQA had to revise its draught and dimensions at FOTCO, MW-I and QICT', they added.

In November, due to development of silt in the channel and turning basin of the port' the PQA had to revise the permissible draught and dimension at FOTCO Oil Terminal and MW-I from 11.0 meters to 10.5 meters and 9.0 meters to 8 meters, respectively.

Sources said this has reduced the capability of large oil tankers to call at the port on one hand and now vessels carrying liquid cargo were being berthed at FOTCO Oil Terminal and Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) with a reduced cargo.

'Ships have to reduce their cargo from 500 to 1000 tonnes if they are destined for FOTCO or QICT', they added. The PQA official, who earlier denied outright that the draft was revised by the Authority, when apprised by this scribe rejected the idea as totally 'baseless'.

'Ok, if there is even a draft revision it is not linked with the issue of LC opening at all as we have no berth occupancy problem and no ship has been diverted-- all are being handled as per routine', claimed the official.

Regarding timely dredging the official said, 'We have no specific time for dredging sometime it has been in March sometimes in February... last year we dredged the channel in January'. He said, 'ABUL', the newly acquired dredger of the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), was however busy in dredging the channel from December 7, and would expectedly clear it very soon.

When asked why the PQA had consulted the DI and not the KPT for the dredging work the official said, 'ABUL had not reached Pakistan when we signed agreement with the Belgian firm but now we intend to use ABUL for maximum dredging'.

On a query on effects of ABUL on the PQA-DI contract the official replied that the contract was in place and the DI would cover those areas of dredging which the KPT's ABUL would have left undone. The official, who requested not to be named, demanded that the PQA should have a dredger of its own as 'dredging is a lifetime and indispensable activity for maintaining the depth of channels'.