Pak’s first container vessel reaches Karachi port after reopening of Strait of Hormuz
MV Selen has become Pakistan’s first container vessel to reach Karachi Port after the Strait of Hormuz was reopened in the wake of the ceasefire between the US and Iran.
The vessel MV Selen, arriving from Jebel Ali in the UAE, docked at the Karachi Port on Saturday night, the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) said.
The arrival of MV SELEN, operated by NLC (AP Line) signalled the resumption of containerised trade and reinforced confidence in maritime supply chains, the KPT said in a statement.
Weeks after the conflict started in West Asia, Iran and the US on April 8 agreed on a conditional ceasefire that included the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically located key waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, handling roughly 20 per cent of global energy supply.
The strategic waterway was one of the 10 main points — Iran wants to control the Strait of Hormuz — on the agenda in Islamabad for the first direct US-Iranian talks that took place over the weekend.
The failure to reach an agreement has raised doubts about the effectiveness of the fragile two-week ceasefire, as well as the prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to stabilise the global energy market.
