Tag: Pakistan

Rohit Agarwal, Ship Recycling Expert at GSR Sentinels LLP, shares his view on the ship recycling industry at Alang. Mr. Agarwal says that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have the ideal tidal conditions for ship breaking. However, the ship recycling industry has been using unacceptable conditions. Nevertheless, this seems to be changing as the Hong Kong Convention sets standards to ensure safe ship recycling.

At total of 20 workers were rescued after being trapped inside an oil tanker which caught fire in Gadani shipbreaking yard, Pakistan, on Monday, local media reported. The incident occurred during dismantling operations only a few months after the tanker scrapping ban was lifted. 

Pollutant and dangerous scrapping has been a key area of concern for Pakistani ship recycling industry. As in India and Bangladesh, the yards in Gadani operate directly on the beach, without any impermeable and drained working areas to protect the sea and sand from pollution.

A senior executive from COSCO Shipping Line Pakistan, was shot dead in the Pakistani financial hub of Karachi earlier this week, with police saying that this is a targeted attack. The man was Chen Zhu and he was the Pakistan general manager of Cosco Shipping Lines. Chen Zhu was in his car when he was attacked in the port city of Karachi.

CMA CGM announced the launch, starting July 2, of its new service between the East Mediterrane an, Djibouti, Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and India. The service is one of the fastest between these strategic zones and connects CMA CGM hubs in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf.

A Protocol on Shipping has been already signed between two countries The Union Minister of Shipping, Shri G.K. Vasan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question that the a hotline communication link between Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) was set up in November, 2006.Further, in the last Home Secretary level talks in March 2011 both sides agreed to task the ICG and PMSA to work on setting up a mechanism for release of inadvertent crossers (fishermen) and their boats on the same lines as the inadvertent crossers on land.The Minister further stated that a Protocol on Shipping services was also signed in December, 2006 between India and Pakistan, in which it has been, inter-alia, agreed that if a vessel of either country be involved in maritime peril or encounters any other danger off the coast or in the ports of the other country, the vessel, the cargo, the crew and the passengers shall receive the same assistance which is accorded to a national vessel, its cargo, crew and passengers. This will be subject to the respective laws and international obligations of the two countries.Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India

Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill and Sea Carriage Shipping Documents Bill Leading exporters say the PPP government is trying to change Pakistan's shipping laws to benefit a few but against the national interest.The Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association Chairman Shabbir Ahmed strongly criticized the hush hush meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Ports and Shipping in the Hosiery Association office on Dec 8 to change the shipping laws of the country without consulting all stakeholders.In a statement, he said the Committee had issued notice of the meeting to discuss the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2011 and Sea Carriage Shipping Documents Bill, 2011, without consulting any of the relevant associations and without giving them a copy of the draft bills."This is an attempt by some interested association with relatives in the National Assembly committee to quickly change these laws for their own benefit and without consulting the larger stakeholders like Aptma, towel manufacturers, leather exporters or others and why is the meeting being held in the Hosiery Association office," he said.The Bedwear Association chief said Pakistan should not change its laws in contravention to the international conventions it had signed in the past and all ...

95 percent of the old scrap is recycled and reused With the revival of work in Gaddani shipyard in Balochistan, the shipbreaking industry has been currently meeting 70 percent iron and steel requirements of the country, claims a report on Wednesday.With the increase in activity at the Gaddani shipyard, the number of people employed there has raised to 12,000, said Engineering Development Board reported (EDB) report quoting Pakistan Ship Breaking Association.The shipbreaking activity at Gaddani Shipyard has broken last 12 years recorded with more than 50 big ships being hammered currently, report added.It said that 95 percent of the old scrap is recycled and reused, adding that the shipyard industry meets country's demand for steel, steel-related products and non-ferrous products and machinery.Pakistan Steel Mills has not been working on its full capacity and cannot fulfill the country's requirements, so iron and steel obtained from the shipbreaking helps meet the demand, report said.Karachi Iron and Steel Merchants Association said that currently Gaddani shipbreaking is making most of the requirement of re-rolling mills. About 20 percent requirement is fulfilled by imports from Ukraine, Turkey and former Soviet countries and by Pakistan steel.But material supplied by shipbreakers is much cheaper than that sold ...

Deadline of 10 days to the government The All-Pakistan Oil Tankers Association( APOTA) has given a deadline of 10 days to the government to either withdraw the recent fuel price hike or increase fares reasonably.otherwise thousands of oil tankers would observe strike by blocking off the installations of all oil marketing companies.Chairman APOTA Haji Akran Durrani, during a press conference, threatened the government that fuel supply to ships, aeroplanes and petroleum stations would completely be stopped as a mark of protest. He said due to huge increase in diesel prices and the high inflation level, it had become impossible to run oil tankers. He said countrywide protests were being observed but the government was least bothered.Durrani added the government even did not pay the compensation of 110 oil tankers which were burnt at the time of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.He alleged that the traffic police, the special police and the personnel of excise department had made the lives of transporters miserable by demanding extortion money day and night and by adopting bullying tactics in areas of Interior Sindh like Jacobabad and Shikarpur.On the other hand, he said, the government had failed to provide security to the ...