Operations resumes at Karachi port after incident

KARACHI: The port authorities Wednesday allowed Pakistan’s deepest container terminal to resume operations after it remained closed for three days due to a collision between two container ships.

On Monday, the container vessel Tolten scraped against the stationary Hamburg Bay as it was berthing, dislodging the containers stowed on its left side and sending them into the water.

Later, the authorities launched an effort to retrieve 21 containers knocked overboard. As per the details, some of the containers were pulled out today from the sea.

No one was injured in the incident at South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT), a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings of Hong Kong commissioned last year.

Hamburg bay completed operation at midnight at 0000 hours on March 20 and is expected to sail soon.

Tolten came alongside berth 4 at 1940 hours on March 19 and operations commenced at 0419 hours after completion of damage survey and is expected to complete by 0000 hours on March 21.

“Karachi Port Trust, the regulatory authority has deployed all available resources for surveying the channel and retrieving containers,” SAPT said in a statement, adding that it was assisting in the operation.

A survey of damage to the Tolten is expected to be completed by Wednesday, SAPT added, and the Hamburg Bay is expected to set sail soon.