KARACHI, May 18: The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has been awarded gold medal by the International Association of Ports and Harbour (IAPH) for its commitment to promote the use of Information Technology (IT) in port operation and allied facilities.

On the occasion of 50th anniversary the IAPH has launched the IT Award 2005 as a reward to those ports that have under went massive computerization and full scale automation of their operations and other services.

The Karachi Port during last couple of years have computerized most of its systems and facilities, including port operations, cargo and container handling, warehousing, estate management, payroll, hospital management systems, human resources (including pension, annual confidential reports, leave management) etc.

As a result of automation the KPT experienced phenomenal change in its work and profits and the computerization helped to identify key areas of change. As a direct consequence of automation, over manned locations were identified and has resulted in launching of golden handshake schemes in KPT. The strength of manpower has been reduced from over 12,000 employees to 5,400 only, says a press release.