KARACHI: The Karachi port handled more than 41 million tonnes of cargo during the first 10 months (July to April) of this fiscal year, reflecting a year-on-year rise of 14 per cent, official figures said.
The increase came mainly on the back of improved tonnage of imports which grew 21pc to 32.9m tonnes from 27.1m tonnes a year earlier.
In contrast, handling of exports fell 7pc to 8.1m during July-April FY16 from 8.8m tonnes recorded in the same period of the last fiscal year.
However, the trend may vary when it is calculated in terms of value.
The handling of dry general cargo grew 17pc to 21.2m tonnes from 18.1m tonnes handled in the same period of the preceding year. The handling of dry bulk cargo also rose 8pc to 7m tonnes compared to 6.5m tonnes. The tonnage of liquid bulk cargo increased 13pc to 12.7m tonnes from 11.3m tonnes.
However, there was phenomenal rise in handling of containerized cargoes as both imports and exports registered a remarkable growth.
Containers loaded with the export cargo rose 14.5pc from nearly 686,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year ago to 785,000 TEUs. Containerised imports rose 12pc to 820,000 TEUs from 732,000 TEUs.
The Karachi port managed to handle higher number of all categories of ships, except container vessels which fell 7pc to 612 ships during the 10-month period under review from 665 a year ago.
The handling of general cargo ships surged 50pc to 310 vessels from 207 reported in the same period of the last fiscal year. The arrival of oil tankers at the Karachi port increased from 405 to 456 vessels.
The overall growth in the handling of all the categories of vessels rose 9pc to 1,554 ships from 1,429 in the same period of the preceding year.
