Lahore: Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi on Tuesday stated that the federal cabinet had provided its approval to the ministry to initiate local ferry services for reaching various global destinations, a news source reported.
The minister highlighted that in line with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s vision of Blue Economy, the cabinet had allowed the Maritime Ministry to open its frontiers for sea travel via passenger ferry services. He added that the service aimed to provide low-cost transportation facilities to Pakistani passengers seeking travel by sea to different countries; including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries.
According to the details shared, it could take a couple of years to start the ferry services due to non-availability of licensed ships at the moment. Sources revealed that with the government financing Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) – the operator of the initiative – the service was likely to begin at the earliest.
As per the plan revealed, the ferry service would start from local routes of Karachi to Gwadar during the project’s first phase. It would later be expanded to include international routes.
