PIBT

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There is at present no dedicated port terminal in Pakistan for non-food dry bulk cargo (e.g., coal, cement and clinker). The volume of coal, cement and clinker handled by Pakistan ports grew by more than 15% between 2007-08 and 2008-09. These volumes are currently handled primarily by small privately managed facilities at various Pakistan ports, none of which is equipped with adequate equipment or storage capacity. To respond to Pakistan’s need for a dedicated bulk terminal, the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in 2008 launched an international competitive bidding process for private sector operators to develop and operate such a facility in Port Qasim, located approximately 50 km southeast of Karachi. In August 2009, Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd. (PICT) won the bid. PICT has created a fully-owned special purpose subsidiary, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIBT or the Project Company) to develop and operate the project. PICT currently operates a container terminal in the Port of Karachi under a 21-year agreement signed in 2002 with the Karachi Port Trust. Since 2003 IFC has provided four loans to PICT to support the development and expansion of the Karachi Port container terminal. The project consists of the construction and operation of the referenced bulk terminal under a 33-year agreement between PIBT and PQA. The bulk terminal will primarily handle coal, cement and clinker and will have a total capacity of approximately 8 million tons in the initial phase, which can be increased to over 12 million tons at a later stage. The project will be developed on a parcel of reclaimed land totaling 25 hectares (ha) in size. It will include five concrete silos of 10,000 tons capacity each located at the western side of the storage area. The development also includes a jetty of up to 460 meters (m) in length to allow the simultaneous operation of two vessels. The jetty will have two coal ship unloading cranes and one clinker and ship loading crane and be connected to the storage area via a 2.5km trestle bridge. The trestle will have two covered conveyors, one for coal imports and the other for cement exports.