The most exciting project in Pakistan today is Gwadar port and the multitude of activities associated with it. These include a 650km coastal highway from Karachi; an airport to handle Boeing 747s; the Mirani dam to supply water; a tax free Special Economic Zone; an Industrial Zone; an Export Processing Zone; an Institute of Technology, a Vocational Training Institute; power plants for electricity; a hospital; a college; schools; a tourist resort; a five star hotel etc. Billions are being spent on all these activities. The Prime Minister and his Finance and Communications Ministers have made powerful statements about this being virtually the engine for the country's prosperity in the 21st Century, a transshipment hub and a gateway to Central Asia and beyond. Baluchistan's Governor and Chief Minister are also loudly proclaiming the promise of prosperity for the deprived people of the region and, indeed, of the whole nation.

The concept is brilliant. A brand new transshipment port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, linked by fast and efficient roads, railways and pipelines to Central Asia, can change the very concept of trade and commerce in the entire region and bring immense prosperity to Pakistan. It has taken years to develop the concept. Thousands of man-hours and hundreds of meetings have led to bringing all the interlinked projects on stream. It is indeed very commendable.

But there is a serious flaw. What about ships ? In all the rhetoric at the highest provincial and federal level the word "ships" is prominently missing. You cannot have a port without ships. Where are the ships? Which owners are considering coming to Gwadar ? After all, it takes them a fair while to change their trading patterns, particularly for transshipment. You need the main line mother ships. And then the smaller feeder ships. Where are the incentives for the shipowner ? Are they to go by their dismal experiences at Karachi and Port Qasim, both of which are inefficient, non competitive and grossly under-utilized, with berths going a-begging ? Or is there a new regimen in place ?

Just 25 years back Karachi was the finest port north of Bombay. Now a number of ports have come up in the region, several of them far more efficient, economical and ship- owner friendly. They do not have the oppressive rules and regulations that Karachi is chained by. Nor the gleeful parasites from the FIA, Customs Intelligence, Dock Security, Coast Guards, MSA, Naval Intelligence and other agencies swarming over visiting ships under the grossly misused garb of "national security". Nor do they face extra-ordinary charges which make Karachi's tariffs one of the worst in the world. Just one example may suffice. For almost 30 years Karachi is charging shipowners and agents about a dollar a ton towards a charge called the "dock labour cess." This charge, unique to Karachi, non-existent anywhere in the world, goes towards paying a quasi-mafia of 4,700 workers approximately Rs. 15,000 a month each. Nobody wants these workers, who are costing almost Rs. 700 million a year for doing nothing. Everyone knows they are a parasite, their shenanigans chasing shipowners way. But despite all the pleadings of shipowners and agents and, indeed, of the port management itself, neither the communications nor finance nor law ministries have applied themselves to removing this aberration from the charges which shipowners have been forced to pay for 30 years. Such charges have priced Karachi port out of the regional market. Superimposed are the plethora of abrasive regulations which, compared to other ports in the region, are so offensive that shipowners shy away from Karachi and go instead to friendlier, cheaper, more efficient ports, of which there are plenty in the region. It is these user-friendly ports which are the competition to Gwadar as a transshipment hub. As for the Central Asian trade, Iranian ports like Bandar Abbas are already well-linked to Central Asia by road and rail. Not forgetting the new port that the Indians are building in Iran, next to our border and close to Gwadar, to minimize Gwadar's advantages.

Besides inducing foreign shipowners, a port also thrives on the myriads of needs of its own national fleet and maritime craft. The pitiful state of our two ports in surpassed only by the pathetic state of our shipping fleet. From a proud fleet of a hundred ships in 1971 we are now down to a miserable dozen, most of which are old, dilapidated and on their way to the breakers yard as well. By comparison Bangladesh, which had zero ships in 1971, today has over 200. Iran, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India all have fleets larger than ours. Gwadar will be denied the vital advantage of a home fleet as it attempts to become the engine of our nation's prosperity.

A port needs many other things besides ships. It needs efficient pilots,tugs, pilot boats and port management staff. As a planned "landlord" port it needs private sector shipping agents and clearing and forwarding agents; banks to handle ship and cargo transactions; stevedores ; shipchandlers and tally men; dock labour; gantry and crane operators; cargo brokers and surveyors; all of whom must come from some where. A good port must also have bunker and water suppliers; classification surveyors; dry docks; repair and maintenance facilities; stores and spares; not forgetting lawyers and courts to handle the inevitable cargo claims; and user friendly bureaucrats to regulate the port's activities in a competent manner.

With all the hinterland infrastructure planned to be in place in just over a year's time, serious attention must be paid immediately on how to make the port of Gwadar work, how to get ships to come, how to draw new business. If this is left unattended, it will only add Gwadar to the list of several thousand ports around the world bereft of shipping business. Like Islamabad's beautiful Convention Centre which has fine exhibition halls, luxury seating, excellent air-conditioning, and other facilities – but no Conventions - this would become another white elephant with no ships – just lovely jetties and sheds and roads and runways and housing estates. At best it may induce some ships away from Karachi and Port Qasim, both of which can ill afford to lose any of their already dwindling business. Nothing could be more damaging than to add to the unemployment in Karachi at the cost of making Gwadar operational. Not forgetting the effect it would have on inter Provincial harmony.

The remedies are there, of course. It needs the will, combined with a very high degree of professionalism. In today's world, professionalism in even the simplest of activities is a must. And a good port is a very complex operation. Alas, such professionalism is sadly lacking even at the highest levels. The Law Ministry has lawyers, draftsmen and judges. The Health Ministry has doctors. Education has teachers and professors. Finance, Economic and Planning have professional expertise. Defence has generals and admirals. The ministry running shipping does not have a single mariner – yes, not a single mariner. It has an outstanding police officer heading it, with fine officers of the Secretariat, DMG and other groups assisting him. But no mariners. Nobody who knows ships. Or ports. Or the maritime industry. No wonder they drift aimlessly while the entire shipping industry has slowly died away. A dozen or more Master Mariners, Chief Engineers and commercial shipping men need to be inducted at all levels in the ministry, who can at least begin to speak the mariners language in Islamabad's bureaucratic corridors. This is simple enough to do. The prevailing ills of bad regulations and oppressive charges can also be easily done away with through sheer professionalism.

For Gwadar to really take off, a piece-meal approach will not work. A re-appraisal of the entire merchant shipping industry is necessary, which again is simple to do, but only by professionals. The recently enacted and very shoddy Shipping Ordinance has killed any possibility of a revival of shipowning in Pakistan, as is obvious from the fact that not a single shipowner has expressed an interest to fly the Pakistan flag since its enactment. And the entire manning of the ports and shipping organizations needs revamping. The PNSC, with a tiny fleet, has a Vice Admiral (that's a Corps Commander's rank!) out of a total of seven admirals working in Ports and Shipping at Karachi. Some of them are outstanding officers, others marginal. But their training and background does not prepare them for working in the shipping industry. None of them would qualify for an equivalent job anywhere in the world, the world in which Gwadar and our maritime industry have to compete for business. It is like putting an airline pilot or a heart surgeon in command of an army corp. He may be outstanding in his field, but will inevitably be a disaster for the army. The same is true for the shipping industry. Perhaps a professional high level maritime authority needs to be established, to oversee the working of the entire industry, to revamp its archaic regulations and to entice new business to Pakistan.

The stakes are very high. The government has pledged billions of the nation's scarce resources towards the viable dream of a thriving port at Gwadar for national prosperity. It now needs nothing more than introducing professionalism at every level in the maritime field. Otherwise the nations hopes and dreams will surely founder on the craggy coast of Baluchistan.