KARACHI: The Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (PCEC) will also cater for needs of Europe as it will reduce the distance by 9,000 miles from the conventional shipping route of cargo and containers movement, said Chairman All Pakistan Shipping Association (APSA), Asim A Siddiqui.

Talking to the media in his office, the APSA chief said that currently conventional shipping route of cargo and containers reaching western China takes around 19,000 miles but could be reduced by up to 9,000 miles if China-Europe trade traffic moves through PCEC.

Kazakhstan has already started rail service to Europe and once the PCEC starts, it will help direct connectivity to European markets from where around 70 million containers annually reach China, he informed.

Even in the past, Europe was linked with the Silk Route which starts right from Pakistan and goes to China, Central Asian States then to Europe, the chairman said.

However, this container traffic from Europe to China is not entirely meant for Western or Central China and for this it could be stated that around 10 per cent of this quantity or around 7m containers could be destined for Western China.

Even if Pakistan could initially get container movement of up to 20m TEUs (twenty feet equivalent unit), including of China for movement from Gwadar and other ports through the PCEC it will help the country get immense benefits and result in economic uplift, he said.

The APSA chairman said that China wants to develop its western and central regions and for this Pakistani ports are ideal due to proximity of the areas.

At present China has 225 million containers movement annually and out of this around 30pc container (or 70 million TEUs) traffic comes from Europe.

However, Pakistan even on getting only up to 5pc of Chinese containerised cargo meant for its western regions could total container traffic including that of Europe and its own to 20m TEUs.

The estimated Chinese investment of $30 to $40 billion in Pakistan could benefit both the countries, the chief opined. With the PCEC, we will also have to develop cargo villages, trucking industry, warehouses and dry ports to facilitate container movement.

However, this will also bring in huge development activity for private sector because new cities and townships, industrial estates, motels and restaurants and petrol pumps will have to be developed alongside the economic corridor.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014