Gwadar Port, the Future of Pakistan

 Currently, Pakistan has two main operating international deep-sea ports: Karachi Port and Port Qasim. During the coming years, their capacity expansion programs are unlikely to keep pace with the expected growth in demand, resulting in a need for a third port to fill the gap.

In particular, Karachi Port has significant physical limitations and will not be able to grow at the same speed as the national growth in demand over the coming decades. These limitations result mainly from its location, which is within the city of Karachi itself, which has seen very rapid growth over the past years.

In the case of Port Qasim, although having a large physical space for expansion, its possible speed of development is hampered by its up-stream location, which is more than 40 km from the open sea, resulting in long turnaround times for visiting ships. This is not a problem for cargoes that are linked to industries located near the port, but it carries cost-disadvantages for cargoes that have origins and destinations elsewhere.

Against this background, it was deemed timely to construct and inaugurate a third deep-sea port for Pakistan so as to ensure that national development is not hampered by a lack of national port capacity in the future. Given the expected rapid growth in demand for port capacity, it is likewise important to continue expanding the capacity of Gwadar port over the coming decades.

Introducing Gwadar

Gwadar Port is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz, near the key shipping routes in and out of the Persian Gulf.

Gwadar Port is located at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, approximately 533 km from Karachi, 75 km (47 mi) east of Pakistan's border with Iran and 380 km (240 mi) km northeast of the nearest point in Oman across the Arabian Sea. It is situated on the eastern bay of a natural hammerhead-shaped Peninsula protruding into the Arabian Sea from the coastline.

Gwadar Port is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz, near the key shipping routes in and out of the Persian Gulf.It is situated near the strategic Strait of Hormuz and its busy trading and oil shipping lanes. The surrounding region is home to around two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. It is also the nearest warm-water seaport to the landlocked, but energy rich, Central Asian Republics and landlocked Afghanistan.

Gwadar District Demography

Gwadar district covers a coastal zone. Main towns within this zone are Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwani (near the border with Iran)
Estimated population in 2004: 215,000 (Gwadar district)
Geographic area – 12.637 sq. km.
Population density – 14.7 person per sq.km
Coast line – approximately 300 km
Population of Gwadar city – estimated 80,000

Hisory of Gawadar Port.

Pakistan identified Gwadar as a port site as far back as 1954 when Gwadar was still under Omani rule. Pakistan's interest in Gwadar started when, in 1954, it engaged the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a survey of its coastline. The USGS deputed the surveyor, Worth Condrick, for the survey, who identified Gwadar as a suitable site for a seaport.

After four years of negotiations, Pakistan purchased the Gwadar enclave from Oman for $3 million on 8 September 1958 and Gwadar officially became part of Pakistan on 8 December 1958, after 200 years of Omani rule. At the time, Gwadar was a small and underdeveloped fishing village with a population of a few thousand. A small port was constructed at Gwadar by the Government of Pakistan between 1988 and 1992 at a cost of Rs. 1,623 million, including the foreign exchange component of Belgian Francs 1,427 million, equivalent to Rs. 749 million, which was arranged by the contractor. However, technical and financial feasibility studies for a major deep-sea port at Gwadar were not initiated until 1993 under the Government of Pakistan's 8th Five Year Plan (1993-1997).
 
Gifford & Partners & Technecon of Southampton, United Kingdom, in association with the Karachi-based Pakistani firm, Techno-Consult International,[4] were engaged by the Government of Pakistan to carry out the feasibility study.

Construction of Gawadar Port.

Gwadar Port is being constructed in two phases:

Phase I (2002-2006): USD $248 million. Status: Completed in December 2006.

Berths: 3 Multipurpose Berths (capacity: bulk carriers of 30,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT)) and container vessels of 25,000 DWT)
Length of Berths: 602m
Approach Channel: 4.5 km long dredged to 12.5m depth
Turning basin: 450m diameter
Service Berth: One 100m Service Berth
Related port infrastructure and handling equipment, pilot boats, tugs, survey vessels, etc.

Phase II (2007–present): USD $932 million. Status: Under Construction.

4 Container Berths
1 Bulk Cargo Terminal (capacity: 100,000 DWT ships)
1 Grain Terminal
1 Ro-Ro Terminal
2 Oil Terminals (capacity: 200,000 DWT ships each)
Approach Channel: To be dredged to 14.5m depth