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Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has planned capital dredging of south wharf triangle area, including berthing basin 1-4 and lower harbor/channel to facilitate changing trends of deep draught vessels, an official document noted.

According to the plan, the depth of triangle area will be increased to 16 meters for safe handling of large cargo vessels. Existing depth of the triangle area varies from place to place.

The depth of berthing basis 1-4 will be increased to 16.5 meters from the existing 16 meters while depth of lower harbor/channel will be increased to 14 meters. The works will be carried out in such a manner as not to interfere with port operations or interfere with traffic whether by road, rail or water, and other normal operations.

As the new generation of container ships comes on the drawing boards, KPT braces itself to handle and cater for fifth and sixth generation ships, and hiring services of reputable and highly experienced dredging companies for the project.

KPT held a pre-bidding meeting on July 4, 2019 to give an opportunity to the prospective bidders to seek clarifications, if any, about the scope of work and the whole tender process.

The meeting was attended by Jan de Nul n.v., Boskalis Dredging and Marine Experts, Van Oord Marine and Contractors B.V., Dredging International, China Harbour Engineering Company, Shanxi Hydraulic Engineering Construction Bureau and Behria Dredging Company Limited.

According to the terms, 75 percent of the payment under the contract will be made

in foreign exchange and 25 percent of the contract value will be paid in Pakistani

rupees.

Karachi due to its geographical and strategic location is known as the gateway to Asia. Karachi Port Trust operates two container terminals Karachi International Container Terminal and Pakistan International Container Terminal and one Silos terminal.

KPT has three multipurpose oil terminals: OP-1, OP-2 and OP-3. These terminals have capability of handling crude oil, edible oil, chemicals, molasses etc.

Karachi Port is now handling over 11.74 million tons of liquid cargo and 25.45 million tons of dry cargo, including 1,213,744 TEUs, which constitute about 60 percent of import/ export of the country.