KARACHI: There are no layouts or drawings on the table, though such sketches are usually required to build high-quality boats that can navigate stormy waters and survive rough seas. Yet, workers are busy at the biggest boat-building yard in Pakistan that is located at the fish harbor in the port city of Karachi.
“Everything, right from drawing to layout and measurements, is there in our minds,” smiles 52-year-old Muhammad Arshad while doing his work.
A carpenter, Arshad is among the 3500 skilled workers who are employed by the country’s informal boat building sector. He has spent the last 35 years at this facility, which also employs a number of unskilled laborers.
Most workers here earn between Rs1200 ($11) and Rs1500 ($14) on a daily basis, though some of them, with exceptionally high skills, even pocket Rs1800 ($17) per day.
Since drawings, charts, and layouts are alien objects to the craftsmen here, they usually discuss the owner’s requirements in details while booking an order. Their standard conversation at such occasions may include questions about the material that needs to be used and the measurements of the vessel, among other things.
Despite the traditional methodology of its workers, the boat-building yard is known for its skilled craftsmanship. Its signature quality is reflected in the design, stability, and beauty of the products.
“We make fishing boats and cargo ships for domestic and international clients,” Hajji Muhammad, President of the Boat Builders’ Association, told Arab News. “We also supply our products to Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”
A fishing ship manufactured at the yard can cost between Rs1 million ($9506) and Rs20 million ($190114), depending on its design and the quality of the material.
“A ship equipped with 400 horsepower engine costs about Rs20 million, depending on the wood we use,” he added. “The price may further go up, if additional material is consumed.”
Under normal circumstances, a medium size boat can take about a year to complete. Cargo ships take much longer, even though they demand more labor and work hours.
Currently, the builders are taking orders for cargo vessels since the demand for fishing boats has gone down due to a variety of reasons, including the use of over-aged vessels.
“The prices of cargo boats is usually between Rs30 million ($285171) to Rs120 million ($1140685),” said Hajji Muhammad.
Owing to the time-consuming nature of the job, about 30 to 40 fishing vessels are built every year. This is over and above the repair work at the yard that rarely comes to an end.
The average life of a boat is 25 years, but a significantly large number of fishermen rely on their old vessels since many of them cannot afford new ones. The Karachi Fish Harbor Authority (KFHA), which regulates the harbor’s affairs, plans to formalize the sector by introducing some basic facilities.
“We want to give it the status of an industry and make it one of the foreign exchange earning sectors by encouraging exports of fishing and cargo boats,” said Mudassir Iqbal, KFHA Managing Director.
Pakistan’s craftsmen build boats without layouts and sketches
Pakistan’s craftsmen build boats without layouts and sketches
At UNSC, Pakistan warns competition for critical minerals could fuel global conflict
- The demand for critical minerals has surged worldwide due to rapid expansion of electric vehicles, advanced electronics and clean energy technologies
- Pakistan’s representative says all partnerships in critical minerals sector must be ‘cooperative and not exploitative’ and respect national ownership
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), has warned that intensifying global competition over critical minerals could become a new driver of global conflict, urging stronger international cooperation and equitable access to resources vital for the world’s energy transition.
The warning comes as demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements surges worldwide due to the rapid expansion of electric vehicles, advanced electronics and clean energy technologies, with governments and companies increasingly competing to secure supply chains while raising concerns that this may lead to geopolitical rivalries in the coming years.
Speaking at a Security Council briefing on ‘Energy, Critical Minerals, and Security,’ Ahmad said experience showed that the risks of instability increased where mineral wealth intersected with weak governance, entrenched poverty and external interference.
“Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy is essential for development, stability and prosperity. The global transition toward renewable energy, electric mobility, battery storage and digital infrastructure has sharply increased the demand for critical minerals,” he said.
“This upsurge has generated new geopolitical and geo-economic pressures. If not managed responsibly, competition over natural resources can affect supply chains, aggravate tensions, undermine sovereignty and contribute to instability.”
In several conflict-affected settings, he noted, illicit extraction, trafficking networks and opaque financial flows have fueled armed conflict and violence, weakened state institutions and deprived populations of legitimate revenues.
“The scramble for natural resources and its linkage to conflict and instability is therefore not new,” Ahmad told UNSC members at the briefing. “Pakistan believes that natural resources must serve as instruments of economic development and shared prosperity, and not coercion or conflict.”
He urged the world to reaffirm the right of peoples to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources, saying all partnerships in the critical minerals sector must be cooperative and not exploitative, respect national ownership, ensure transparent contractual arrangements and align with host countries’ development strategies.
“In order to prevent the exploitation of mineral-producing countries and regions, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings, support their capacity-building for strengthening domestic regulatory institutions, combating illicit financial flows, ensuring environmental safeguards, and promoting equitable benefit-sharing with local communities,” he asked member states.
“Promote equitable participation in global value chains. Developing countries must be enabled to move beyond extraction toward processing, refining and downstream manufacturing. Technology transfer, skills development and responsible investment are essential to avoid perpetuating structural imbalances.”
