KARACHI – The country’s first dedicated Fertilizer and Grain Terminal (FGT) at the Port Qasim was locked down for an indefinite period on Wednesday, after dozens of workers were injured in a violent mob attack the previous day.
Cargo handling at the state-of-the-art terminal was suspended as hundreds of ’employees of stevedoring companies’ entered the terminal premises and started beating up the on-duty labourers while trying to ransack cargo-handling equipment at the facility. According to sources in the Port Qasim Authority (PQA), the Fauji Akbar Portia Marine Terminals (FAP) has shut down the terminal since Tuesday afternoon.
“The terminal has been shut down and would remain so until the matter is resolved once and for all,” the sources privy to the port told Pakistan Today. If closed down, the two vessels loaded with rice and wheat that are presently berthed at the FGT are likely to be shifted to the PQA’s Marginal Wharf.
The final decision is subject to the approval by the FAP’s Board of Directors – the terminal operator – who are all set to announce the complete closure of the time-efficient facility during a press conference scheduled to be held at the FAP office on Thursday (today). The FAP is weighing various options including legal ones to determine its future course of action.
The FAP has also started consultations with its legal advisers to see what legal options are available at its disposal. “The negotiations are also underway with the PQA as the FAP wants an assurance that such happenings do not occur in the future,” the sources added. The FGT was recently developed on built-operate-transfer basis in a joint investment venture by the Fauji Foundation’s FAP and National Bank of Pakistan at a cost of $135 million (Rs 10 billion) and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in October 2010.
The bulk dry cargo terminal was developed by the FAP in a short span of 24 months and was envisaged to help the cash-strapped government save billions – at least Rs 6 billion annually on account of logistics costs. The terminal, using its modern US- and Belgium-made cargo handling tools like steel silos, a dedicated jetty and other automated equipment, indeed revolutionised the pace of cargo handling in the country’s ports and shipping industry that recently saw the facility breaking all previous records by discharging 16,500 tonnes of oilseed in a single day.
However, the facility – with a cargo-handling capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day and 0.12 million tonnes storage – cannot function smoothly due to intermittent protests and demonstrations carried out by dock workers demanding jobs at the terminal. The FAP has never responded positively to their demands, contending that no manual work was required at the fully-automated facility.
