PIBT’s bulk terminal at Port Qasim commences commercial operations

KARACHI: The mechanised cargo terminal of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) at Port Qasim commenced commercial operations, a bourse filing said on Tuesday.

“The company has successfully completed its project, ie, terminal to handle bulk cargo vessel at Port Qasim and has formally commenced commercial operations,” Arsalan Khan, company secretary of PIBT, said in a notice.

PIBT is a public listed company quoted on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and is sponsored by the Marine Group of Companies and also partly financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.

The company has invested around $285 million in the establishment of the county’s first and only common user coal, cement and clinker handling terminal at Port Qasim. Port Qasim is Pakistan’s first industrial and multipurpose deep sea port.

PIBTL has built its own jetty and is equipped with two coal ship unloading cranes and one cement / clinker loading crane. It is capable of handling 12 million tons of cargo/annum and has a storage yard spread on 62 acres.

Karachi Port is the premier port of Pakistan and handles around 75 percent of the entire national trade. It handles around 14 million tons of liquid cargo and 12 million tons of dry general cargo, including 738,000 TEUs containers.

A fully-operational PIBTL will bring effectiveness and efficiencies for the port sector and for the trade and industry to match Pakistan’s port throughputs with the international standards of excellence.

PIBTL will not only be easing off the existing port congestions at KPT and PQA, but also mitigate the environmental and efficiency concerns. Meanwhile, the share of Pakistan International Bulk Terminal hits its upper price circuit, surging five percent in the intraday trade on Tuesday.