PM approves revamping of maritime sector to enhance revenue to Rs9,000bn

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved a comprehensive revamping plan for the country’s maritime sector to improve its revenue from existing Rs2,610 billion to Rs8,000-9,000 billion.

With a clear roadmap given to different federal and provincial authorities, a high-level implementation committee is already in place to ensure the execution of revamping plan of the country’s maritime sector with special focus on ports’ governance, revenue generation, digitisation, shipbuilding, ship breaking, fisheries and aquaculture and others.

There are over 120 action items, which include the creation of Pakistan Maritime & Sea Port Authority (PMSPA) and the appointment of CEOs of all three ports (Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar), to be implemented within the given deadlines to ensure that the overhaul plan of the maritime sector is translated into reality within minimum possible time. The implementation committee is headed by the minister for defence and includes higher officials from law enforcement and intelligence agencies and has been assigned to oversee the execution of all the approved measures. The committee is meeting fortnightly.

Approved by the prime minister last month, the plan sets a deadline of March 30, 2025, for the creation of Pakistan Maritime & Sea Port Authority (PMSPA). Appointment of CEOs in KPT, PQA and GPA, hinterland connectivity of Gwadar Port under CPEC, construction of break water and initiation of second phase to truly make Gwadar a deep-sea port, enhancing the role of Customs, round-the-clock connectivity of KPT, where freight movement is generally restricted to only seven hours a day, immediate evaluation of shipbuilding in Pakistan to enhance commercial shipbuilding and ship repair, remodeling of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, updating of National Ports Master Plan, Ports Tariff Standardisation, reduction of dwell time, improvement of trans-shipment operations, construction of new terminals, modernisation of equipment in all terminals, misuse of FATA/PATA concessions, third party performance audit of all ports, dredging of harbor channels, resolution of land disputes belonging to KPT, disposal of stuck-up containers, expansion of examination areas and provision of sufficient cargo handling equipment at the ports, customs-led facilitation mechanism, abolition of Karachi Dock Labour Board, outsource of scanner at port terminals, rehabilitation of KPT-Pipri railway link, removal of encroachment on road side outside KPT, implementation of five-year fisheries development plan by provinces, cluster shrimp farming in coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan, attracting Chinese seafood industry to Pakistan are among the identified actions which are to be completed within different deadlines -- mostly during 2025. An informed source, who shared these details with The News, lamented that despite Pakistan’s strategic coastal advantage, the maritime sector is underperforming due to a lack of coordinated approach and long-term policy planning. The revamping plan, it is said, will unlock billions in trade revenue. The source said that it is unbelievable to see the country’s leading port working for only seven hours a day.

KPT, it is said, is a white elephant in the making as 80 percent of its generated income is currently being expended on pay and pensions due to mismanagement, a non-digitised operational environment and surplus employees. While the shipping industry is considered a catalyst for economic development, in Pakistan there is the absence of even a single cargo container ship in the country’s maritime fleet, which results in flight of an estimated $5-8 billion annually.

About the shipbreaking industry, it is said that till the 1980s, Gaddani was the leading shipbreaking place in the world. However, the industry has seen a decline amidst a lack of appropriate policies and an increase in withholding tax at the import stage.