KARACHI: The Karachi port for the first time in its long history of 125 years is going to have its own floating dock with a capacity of 2,500 tons for repair and maintenance of its large flotilla of dredgers, tugs, pilot boats, survey boats and other ancillary craft.

Official sources said on Friday that estimated cost of the floating dock in the world market would be around $8 to $10 million, and after awarding the contract, it is expected to become operational within a year.

The Karachi Port had been depending on Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) for maintenance and repair work of its large fleet of harbour marine craft.

However, due to heavy load of work at KSEW, many a times it caused long delays for repair and maintenance work of KPT’s vessels which resulted in huge operational losses to the port.

The KPT chairman, Mohammad Hayat, in a recent meeting directed his technical team to invite bids from manufacturers and suppliers for procurement of floating dock with a capacity of 2,500 tons, sources added.

This initiative is going to save huge operational losses being suffered by the KPT for long delays in repair and maintenance work of its harbour marine crafts, particularly dredgers.

Though the Karachi port has its own dry dock which was built in the year 1900 at Manora, it could only cater to the needs of repair and maintenance work of small boats.

The dry dock at Manora is undergoing major repair and maintenance work, but port and shipping experts suggest that if the KPT is planning to have its own floating dock, it should stop wasting funds on refurbishment of the dry dock, particularly when it does not fully meet their requirements.

However, experts are apprehensive about the capacity of the KPT for handling and operating the floating dock because the port has no experience and required skilled manpower needed for running such a port facility.

These experts cited an example and said that the KPT purchased a state-of-the-art trailer suction hopper dredger (TSHD), but unfortunately it remained functional only till such time the technical staff of the Dutch supplier kept operating it.

They further said that the “Abbul” trailer suction hopper dredger is now out of operation for the last 18 months and most of its sophisticated equipment, controlled by computers, has stopped functioning because the KPT staff which tried to run it is only used to manual systems.

Consequently, these experts said it is undoubtedly a brilliant idea that the port should have its own floating dock, but before moving further the port authorities should evaluate as to who would operate it, and if the port has the required expertise.