Karachi Shipyard

The Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works Limited (KS&EW), is a major defence contractor and military corporation situated in West Wharf in Karachi, Pakistan.

Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works was established in mid fifties as a project of Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) and incorporated as a public limited company in 1957, managed by a Board of Directors with Managing Director as the Chief Executive.

Karachi Shipyard is situated at west wharf Karachi and spread over an area of 71 acres. It has a large shipbuilding hall, three block fabrication areas, three shipbuilding berths, two dry docks, a well equipped machine shop and a large grit blasting and painting facility with modern machinery for paint application under controlled environment as per international standards. A ship lift and transfer system with a lifting capacity of 7881 tons and 13 in number parking stations is being installed which is planned to complete by end 2016.

Karachi Shipyard is the only shipyard and oldest heavy engineering establishment of Pakistan, catering for shipbuilding, ship repair and general heavy engineering. It has played a historical role in transferring of technologies and broadening the industrial base of country.

Karachi Shipyard is the only shipbuilding company in Pakistan. It has built numerous cargo ships, oil tankers, tugboats and support vessels, landing crafts, naval vessels and submarines.

17,000 Tons Fleet Tanker

Karachi Shipyard has recently completed building 17000 tons Fleet Tanker for Pakistan Navy. The construction of the vessel started on 27 November 2013 with steel cutting and subsequently keel laying was performed on 7 March 2014. The construction of the vessel was completed and it was launched on August 19, 2016 by Prime Minister of Pakistan.

PNFT will provide not only logistic support to PN units at high seas but can also undertake ASW/ASvW operation through embarked helicopter. PNFT will be built under the Class and will comply with IMO and MARPOL regulations envogue. For this, the ship is of double hull configuration. It is propelled by two diesel driven engines with controllable pitch propeller and can achieve a top speed of 20 knots. There are 4 x DGs for electrical power generation. With overall length of 158.4 m and maximum width of 22.0 m, the ship has scantling displacement of 17000 tons.

Contract for indigenous construction of a Fleet Tanker for Pakistan Navy was signed on 22 Jan 2013 between Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP), Pakistan and M/s STM of Turkey. As per the said contract, design of the ship alongwith Kit of Material (KoM) will be provided by M/s STM, whereas complete construction, outfitting, and trials will be undertaken by KS&EW. PN Fleet Tanker (PNFT) is the largest warship to be built in country to date.^[1]

Submarine construction

In the 1990s KS&EW received technology from France for building the Agosta 90B Khalid class submarine. The technology was mostly related to construction of the pressure hull and out-fitting of the submarine. Drawings, computer aided design tools and more than 20,000 technical documents from France were transferred. Training programs for 300 engineers and technicians took place in France and another 600 personnel were trained in Pakistan. In 1995, surveys and upgrades to naval dockyard infrastructure were carried out by French personnel which included a section building hall, combined outfitting workshop, pipe-bending workshop, hull fabrication workshop, grit blasting and painting facility, dock lift system and a pickling and etching plant.^[2] The third Agosta 90B submarine, PNS Hamza, was constructed with the newly developed MESMA air-independent propulsion unit, while the first two (PNS Khalid and PNS Saad) will be retro-fitted during their next overhauls with a "plug" containing a MESMA AIP unit.^[3] The submarine's hull will be cut and the plug inserted. The second MESMA unit was shipped in June 2011.^[4]

The next submarine project will see KS&EW jointly involved with Chinese company CSOC (China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co. Ltd.) in the design and construction of six submarines equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP). These will be designed to Pakistani specifications and four will be built at a CSOC shipyard in China, while two will be constructed by KS&EW. It is believed that little upgrading of facilities is required because much of the current infrastructure meets the requirements. The preliminary negotiations were reported to be completed in March 2011. It was earlier believed that the project would involve China's Type-041 Yuan class submarine, which had been mentioned by Admiral Noman Bashir, Chief of Naval Staff, several times since 2009.^[2]

Production

Merchant vessels

• Al-Abbas - first one was built in 1967^[5] for Muhammadi Steamship Company Limited.
• MV Lalazar - A 13,300 DWT Cargo Vessel was built for National Shipping Corporation, Pakistan. Delivered on 20th Nov 1974.
• MV Hetian - A 13,160 DWT Cargo Vessel was built for China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation, China, in 1978.
• MV Islamabad - MV Islamabad is the largest general cargo and container ship built at KS&EW. The ship is in service with Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.
• You Ti 20 - A 17,000 TDW Bulk Carrier You Yi 20 was built in 1992 for China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation.

Naval vessels

Frigates

• PNS Aslat of the F-22P Zulfiquar class frigate

Multi-Purpose Patrol craft

• PNS Dehshat of the Azmat class missile boat
• PNS Jurrat & PNS Quwwat of the Jurrat class missile boat
• PNS Jalalat & PNS Shujaat of the Jalalat II class missile boat
• PNS Larkana & PNS Rajshahi of the Larkana class Gunboat

Mine Countermeasure Vessels

• PNS Mujahid of the Tripartite-class minehunter

Submarines

• Agosta 90B class submarine
• Cosmos class MG110 mini-submarine

Auxiliary Vessels

• PNFT - 17,000 Tons Fleet Tanker
• PNS Bhit Shah - Split-Hopper Barge
• PNS Kalmat & PNS Gwader - Coastal Tankers
• PNS Madadgar & PNS Rasadgar - Small Tanker Cum Utility Ship

See also

• Defence industry of Pakistan
• List of shipbuilders and shipyards

References

External links

• Official website
• Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works - Profile

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Coordinates: 24°51′N 66°59′E / 24.850°N 66.983°E / 24.850; 66.983