Pakistan has resumed commercial shipbuilding after more than 40 years, with construction underway on a 1,100-TEU feeder containership at Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works (KSEW).
The project is Pakistan’s first commercial containership built since the early 1980s and is part of the government’s plan to develop the maritime sector, improve ports and reduce dependence on imported ships.
Steel cutting for the vessel has been completed, according to Vice Admiral (Retd.) Iftikhar Ahmad Rao, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Maritime Reforms.
Rao said during a briefing in Islamabad on Thursday that commercial containership construction had resumed at Karachi Shipyard under a contract signed with Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), marking the first such project at the yard since the early 1980s.
He added that construction had already started and the project cost was several million dollars lower than the market rate.
The vessel is being built for the state-owned Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC). Steel cutting began in
