December 12, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 11: Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) was working on a plan to acquire a bulk cargo vessel with a cargo carrying capacity of 45,000 to 50,000 tons.

This was stated by the chairman PNSC Vice Admiral (Rtd) S Tauquir H Naqvi while speaking at the briefing on oil tanker induction in the corporation here on Thursday.

He said that the PNSC was looking for financial arrangements from local and international lending organizations to fund this purchase. “At the same time, we are also looking for a good and economical ship building yard for acquiring this vessel,” he added.

“We are working on it and will inform you as soon as these things are materialized,” he said.

He said that PNSC has been converted into a profit-making organization with the help of expense curtailment, right sizing and prudent management.

He said that the PNSC has acquired three oil tankers to enhance its share in country’s liquid cargo import including crude oil shipment. These are MT Shalamar, MT Sawat and MT Johar.

To a question that the acquired tankers were 20 years old, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation chairman said that new tankers were very costly and financial constraints forced the Corporation to go for used vessels.

He said that a new tanker of the size of recently acquired tankers was costing around $40 to $42 million, but PNSC has purchased three tankers at a cost of about $21.9 million.

However, he said that better maintained tankers have a longer life. “The purchase of these tankers was arranged from our own resources without borrowing a single penny,” Admiral Naqvi added.

He said that Pakistan’s total seaborne cargo was ranging between 36 to 38 million tons for the last 4 to 5 years.

About 50 per cent or 18 million tons of the total cargo was liquid including crude, oil and edible oil, he added.

He said the total crude oil import of Pakistan was estimated at 7.5 million tons which is handled by the PNSC.

He said that the Corporation was planning to acquire another tanker to cater to the growing demand which has been created after the commissioning of a new private sector oil refinery Bosicor Pakistan Ltd.

He said the PNSC had secured a ten-year crude oil import shipment contract (contract of affreightment) with PRL, NRL and PARCO in October 2002 which is effective from January 2003.

He said that the new management has transformed PNSC from a loss making company to profit earning entity. In the year 2000, PSNC had sustained a loss of Rs298.97 million and now it has posted a profit of Rs799.38 million in 2003.

Pakistan National Shipping Corporation’s share prices has also increased from Rs3.15 per share in 2000-2001 to Rs27.55 in 2002-2003 while the corporation has earned a profit of Rs323 million during July-September 2003.—APP