Pakistan Dry Port Updates

[ghazi52]

Azakhel Dry Port

PESHAWAR: The Customs authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have decided to operationalise the Azakhel Dry Port but the dry port in Peshawar will also continue to function. This was announced by Collector Customs Peshawar, Qurban Ali Khan, during his recent visit to the under-construction Azakhel Dry-Port.

The collector customs said it had been a longstanding demand of the local business community that the province must have a new dry-port to cater to the needs of the traders. Qurban Ali Khan added that the province was going to have high-tech dry-port after 1986 which would boost both local trade and trade with Afghanistan and other states in the region. Deputy Collector Zakir Khan, Umar Riaz of Pakistan Railways, president of KP Customs Agents Groups Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, vice- president Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) Khalid Shehzad and other members of the business committee also accompanied the Customs officials to the site of the new dry-port.

 

[ghazi52]

After a decade: Hyderabad’s dry port resumes operation

HYDERABAD. After a long hiatus of nearly a decade, exports from the Hyderabad Dry Port have resumed.

A ceremony in this regard was organised at the National Logistic Cell’s managed dry port on Wednesday. Representatives of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) and other traders attended the event.

A container carrying sugarcane molasses was cleared for the export on the occasion. “It was indeed a great mistake to keep it [the dry port] dysfunctional for so long,” said Muhammad Zahid, chief collector of Karachi Customs.

“We hope to increase the export target by mobilising the local industry to use the dry port for the purpose,” he added.

The port, established in 1984 on over 20 acres of land, has the storage capacity of 200 containers. It is located on the outskirts of Hyderabad on the Jamshoro road adjacent to Aga Khan Maternity and Healthcare center.

The exports attained the pinnacle at Rs5,421 million in 2002-03 before plumbing down to a paltry Rs42 million in 2006-07, according to figures shared by the officials.

“The major reason behind the slump was a decrease in exports of the Fateh Group of Industries to Russia and Central Asia and a lack of facilities in comparison to the Karachi port,” a customs official, who requested anonymity, told The Express Tribune. The port, he added, still lacked the capacity for cold storage.

The official informed that the WeBOC software, used for custom clearance, was recently installed at the dry port’s computers and it helps expedite the clearance process. “Earlier, we had to maintain the shipment record with paper and pen.”

He told that the clearance at Hyderabad dry port usually takes a day or two unlike Karachi where up to seven or eight days are required. “When we will put a seal to a container [after clearance] it will land directly on the ship.”

progress of karachi port - deep water container terminal..

 

[ghazi52]

A view of Dry Port Sost, Gilgit Baltistan

 

[ghazi52]

Chinese engineers will develop the design of Haripur's Baladhir dry port.

Haripur's Baladhir dry port is one of the main projects of the second phase of CPEC.

Chinese engineers will design it.
Creating job opportunities from the proposed dry port will provide social and economic benefits to locals.

It will be constructed in the east of Haripur city near the Balarheer railway station.