Pakistani Government News

Pakistani authorities have arrested 14 people in connection with the alleged trafficking of several migrants who drowned last week after their overloaded boat capsized in the sea off Greece, police said.Hundreds of people, including from Pakistan, are thought to have died when the vessel capsized and sank in one of Europe's deadliest shipping disasters in recent years.The Pakistani government has ordered a high-level inquiry to investigate the human trafficking network thought to be involved…

As we close out another year, sub-continent markets remain suspended at their weakest point for some time now. Pricing remains firm (given the historical price average has been around $350/LDT or so), but sentiments and conditions on the ground across all locations remain somewhat precarious.While Bangladesh has been the main proponent of such concern – given the ongoing financial crisis that has resulted in the Bangladeshi government restricting the sanctioning of new Letters of Credit (L/Cs) for even the smallest purchases of $1 million and below – this week…

Shipbreaking plot no. 54 in Gadani, Pakistan, was sealed off after a massive fire broke out on-board the ship ACES (IMO 8021830), said NGO Shipbreaking Platform. This is the same floating oil production tanker that blew up on 1 November last year – an explosion that caused the death of 31 workers and seriously injured at least another 58 workers. Fortunately, reports seem to indicate that no workers got caught in the flames of yesterday’s fire on the ACES. After having been left untouched and unbroken in the same yard since last year’s catastrophic explosion, the Pakistan Department of Environment gave permission last week for the continued breaking of the ACES.

The newly expanded Gwadar deep-water port in Pakistan that is key to a planned $46 billion Chinese economic corridor is nearly complete and expects to process about a million tons of cargo next year, the operator said on Tuesday. Most of the cargo will be incoming construction materials to be used in projects related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which envisions linking far-western Chinese production regions by road through Pakistan for shipment through Gwadar port to overseas markets. Gwadar is in Baluchistan province where separatist groups in have waged a violent campaign for decades, saying the Pakistani state has failed to develop the impoverished region and instead plundered its natural resources.

Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Lewis and Clark and its 130 embarked civil service mariners and nine military department members are key contributors to the disaster response/humanitarian assistance being provided to flood-ravaged Pakistan. The ship is providing underway replenishment to ships of the USS Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group in the Arabian Sea as they support humanitarian relief efforts in the wake of epic monsoons. Lewis and Clark’s resupply mission helps keep ships of the ready group supplied with food, fuel and other supplies – enabling them to remain at sea, on station and able to provide help to a country where  thousands are reported dead, and millions are reported displaced or homeless.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was informed in late October of this year that the new Gwadar Port would be completed ahead of schedule with the first phase of the port to be opened in the first quarter of 2005. As reported in Pakistan Daily Times, Mr Aziz praised the work done by Chinese engineers in completing the work ahead of schedule and thanked the Chinese government for helping the Pakistani government in the port construction. Central to this success has been the role of the China Harbour Engineering Company.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was informed in late October of this year that the new Gwadar Port would be completed ahead of schedule with the first phase of the port to be opened in the first quarter of 2005. As reported in Pakistan Daily Times, Mr Aziz praised the work done by Chinese engineers in completing the work ahead of schedule and thanked the Chinese government for helping the Pakistani government in the port construction. Central to this success has been the role of the China Harbour Engineering Company. A part of their work was the supply of a pair of 2600 HP azimuthing drive docking tugs for the new port. The keels for these boats were laid at China’s PengLai BoHai Shipbuilding Company on January 8 this year.