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Eight berths shut down at Karachi
18 Sep 2007
Eight berths at Karachi Port have been forced to close after they were identified as being unsafe.
Berths 10 and 4, which were both more than 40 years old, collapsed during heavy rain in August, prompting the Port Trust to close six others of similar vintage.
Karachi had a total of 27 berths and three oil piers, but will now have to work hard to maximise usage of all facilities in order to accommodate schedule vessel calls.
Initially, it ordered all geared container vessels to divert to private terminals, such as KICT and PICT, although later rescinded this command, leaving it up to shipping agents to work out where vessels could best be handled.
This followed complaints from the agents, who were forced to pay $30-$40 more than they would when handling containers at the Port Trust's own berths.
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