The Karachi Port Trust, along with the Ministries of Communications and Commerce, is busy with the goal of promoting Karachi as a major international container port. The government bodies have also invited the participation of the private sector in upgrading the existing cargo handling facilities, which were primarily intended for break bulk cargo.
Today K.I.C.T. is fully capable of fast and efficient handling of container ships, along with the processing of both import and export containerized cargo.
Facilities
5,233 linear meters of rubber-tired gantry (RTG) crane runways
1,126 linear meters of ship-to-shore crane rail tracks
59,000 square meters of new pavement area
708 linear meters of new access road and queuing area, featuring computer- controlled in-and-out gate complexes
three new buildings to house electrical power generating plants, a crane maintenance shop and labor offices, plus a services building for a bank, customs clearance services and client offices
two refurbished buildings to accommodate finance and administration offices, plus a marine operations control hub
Capicity and Support Facilities
K.I.C.T. is designed to provide state-of-the-art marine container handling facilities to multiple container carriers. This is being done for the first time at Karachi Port.
The three-berth wharf of the terminal is spread over an area of 600 square meters. Up to three ships can be berthed at any one time. The draft at these berths has been increased to 10.5 meters.
The terminal has a storage capacity of 8,567 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and is designed to handle an annual throughput of 300,000 TEUs in the first phase of the project and 450,000 TEUs in the second phase.
