The largest bulk cargo laden carrier, MV RAPALLO, carrying 60,000 metric tons of Australian canola has docked at the Port Qasim’s FAP Terminal Friday. “With a draft of 12.3 meters and an LOA of 220 meters, the vessel is a landmark for FAP Terminal as well as for the country as it is the largest bulk cargo vessel ever berthed at PQA,” Ahmed Rana, CEO of Fauji Akbar Portia Terminal, told a group of visiting journalists at the Terminal. Gul Aleem Khan, DG Operations Port Qasim Authority, informed that in 36 years of PQA operations’ history, this was for the first time that a bulk carrier of 12.3 meters draft had arrived at the port. He said before the terminal, the Authority didn’t have the depth to cater for large size bulk carrier and PQA’s next task was to further deepen the port’s navigational channel to fully utilize theb 14-meter draft of the FAP. “We are working on the requirements of the same,” he added.
Khan said it was economically better to bring larger size of bulk carrier that resulted in huge savings for the importers. Rana said his terminal had so far handled wheat, rice, corn, fertilizer and canola cargo and that the current 60,000 metric tons of Australian canola had been imported by All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association.
He said FAP directly discharges the grains and fertilizer in the secure silos and flat warehouses; this ensures quicker turnaround time for the vessels which is huge saving for their clients. He said FAP’s average through vessel speed was 12,000 tones which was almost double than the conventional cargo handling methods. Previously Pakistan’s first dry cargo terminal Fauji Akbar Portia had broken its own record by discharging 22,000 metric tons of canola oil seeds in a day; previous one day record of about 17,000 metric tons was also achieved at FAP Terminal.
FAP Terminal is built on a 9 hectare of land reclaimed from the sea level and features 300 meters long dedicated jetty that can accommodate ships with a draft of 12.8 meters, 300 meters of length and 43 meters beam. FAP Terminal is capable of catering Panamax size vessels up to 80,000 DWT. The terminal can handle 4.1 million metric tons of dry cargo and also provides discharge, bagging stations and storage facilities to exporters and importers at its facility.