Karachites continue to suffer due to congestion on Jinnah Bridge, leading to Keamari and West Wharf. The congestion has played havoc to commuters to port and more due to emissions to environment around the old city area. Businesses and trade has suffered as a result of these congestions as goods and commitments are delayed and in many cases, perish due to being delayed under the scotching sun.
We in Pakistan are fully aware that transportation and logistics is in dire need of modernization, but what about supply chain visibility. I need not mention the devastation caused by petrol tanker loss of over two hundred human lives and recurring incidents of containers falling on humans at Karachi, as no proper twist locks were used, thus many lives are lost. This congestion is bound to aggravate any crisis situation should it occur at or near the Karachi port areas.
Karachi now has three container terminals and Karachi Port has miserably failed to live its commitment to connect new deep water port with bridge to Manora, as planned to connect Northern By-pass. Due to this utter failure the traffic to and from these three terminals is left with no option but to use Jinnah Bridge, causing massive congestion for hours. The situation is aggravated by oil products carrying tanker lorries, bulk cargo carriers, imported vehicle carriers, public and private transport. One cannot fathom the number of hours collectively wasted and the quantity of fuel burnt unproductively as a result of the unabaiting congestion. It is common knowledge that businesses have opted to relocate away from the main business district of Karachi and this in itself shall lead to numerous problems in the coming years.
Ports and terminals inherently are very traditional industries, if they want, this problem may be somewhat resolved by value adding technology and automation. The whole I.T. infrastructure may play key role in linking the road haulage, landing system with terminal operating system. The road to Keamari and West Wharf is laden with trucks waiting to pick up boxes thus causing congestion on roads and misery to commuters. Port and Terminals can link their road haulage system with logistic providers, so to know 12/24 hours when they need trucks near the port and terminal to collect / drop the box. This concept of truck calling system is being successfully managed even in several port cities in Africa and one can only wonder why such a system has eluded implementation in Pakistan.
No truck be allowed to enter the city and be kept outside city say about 30 miles and await terminal message or call that truck is on way and who is driving and what the truck is going to pick up or drop. This may facilitate port and terminal operators to clear the box buried under three or four containers, so that truck arrives it is loaded or discharged and cleared port may not be allowed parking of truck on road leading to Keamari and west wharf. Ports and terminals may develop IT infrastructure to liaison with logistic companies and trucks be called to drop or pick up by terminal operators.
In the short term, a similar arrangement can also be made for tanker lories that call at the oil terminals situated at and near the port area and after loading are destined for up country delivery of goods that include crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, edible oils and other non-petroleum products. A recent study commissioned by the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) has forecast that the number of petroleum products carrying tanker lories carrying 40,000 liters each calling at the Karachi port is expected to balloon to over 800 trucks per day in 2019-20 from an average of about 400 per day that were actually counted during 2014-15. One is at a loss of how the city’s infrastructure, traffic police and environment will cope with such a growth. For the long term, the Keamari Oil Installation Area shall have to be linked to up-country storage and refining facilities through pipelines thus lowering the cost of fuel to the end users and mitigating congestion.
Worldwide trucks turnaround time in port is 26 minutes whereas ours is in days, due to manual operation and permitting trucks on road in port due to poor efficiency of Port and lack of technology. It is essential that the port authorities take a lead in finding implementable solutions to this problem before a complete breakdown of the system occurs. It has been time and again witnessed that the system is strained whenever two or three holidays come up in a row. The most recent gridlock occurred immediately after the recent Eid ul Fitar holidays and is a repeat each year only that the situation get worst with each passing year.
The need for communication throughout the supply chain is imperative to line up fragmented nature of trucking infrastructure. Unfortunately, our trucking sector has not kept pace with advance in supply chain management such that today even the trucking system in Iran is much more advanced than that of Pakistan despite the years of sanctions endured by Iran. It remains to be seen how the local trucking sector will cope with the mix of right-hand drive Pakistani trucks and left-hand drive Chinese trucks once Chinese goods make their transit through Pakistan courtesy of CPEC. This may be a recipe for disaster and it puzzles me when our policy makers will realize that it is these seemingly small details that at times decide the fate of mega projects.
We, may resolve congestion and grid lock on Karachi’s roads if our ports and terminals jump to digitization the process, as it will not only reduce congestion but add value to it, ultimately digitizing the supply chain is crucial to build a mere robust and resilient chain that is flexible and maintain the visibility. The Karachi Port Trust shall also have to expedite the construction of either the elevated expressway planned to run from the deep water port all the way to Korangi Road or the cross-harbour bridge connecting Keamari with Manora and onwards with the Northern By-pass. Both these projects have been sitting on the shelf gathering dust while Karachi continues to suffer from congestions and delays resulting in an increase in the cost of doing business and environmental hazards. The cross harbor bridge was envisioned in the early 2000s and the contract for the container terminal at the deep water port was awarded to Hong Kong based Hutchison Ports with a promise that KPT will have constructed this bridge well before the congestion sets in. The new container terminal has been operational since December last year with the bridge nowhere in sight.
I, have taken pain to write this being sufferer every day at Jinnah bridge. It is time for Karachi Port to act, and digitize the supply chain to beat the gridlock. In my humble opinion project of connecting deep water port by either the elevated expressway or the cross harbor bridge is imperative as new port is our premier port and volume may increase as mother vessel will call due to 16 feet draft. Let us act by kick starting the project and ensure connecting Jinnah Bridge to northern by-pass by elevated express way by passing Mauripur road. I am sure that our Minister of Ports and Shipping may intervene to solve the issue by connectivity and avoiding congestion.
