DP World expands operations in Pakistan with inland container terminal in Lahore

Global marine terminal operator DP World has expanded its operations in Pakistan with the official opening of its state-of-the-art inland container terminal (ICT) in Lahore, the country's second largest city.

DP World Lahore, also known as the Prem Nagar Dry Port, was inaugurated by Shahid Hussain Raza, chairman of Pakistan's ministry of railways, at a ceremony on Thursday.

DP World Lahore, the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) project by Pakistan's ministry of railways, is well positioned to serve Pakistan's largest hinterland market - the Lahore-Sahiwal region - and is directly linked by rail to Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT), a premier gateway port managed and operated by DP World Karachi more than 1,000 km away.

The ICT's inauguration closely follows the opening of Terminal 2 in Port Qasim on 12 January, which expanded QICT's capacity from 900,000 TEU (twenty foot equivalent container units) to around 1.2 million TEU, part of DP World's three-phase development plans in Pakistan and the largest ever investment in the port sector there.

The ICT facility is built on over 40 hectares of land and is connected by an extensive network of railway lines and roads linking some of the country's most populous areas. The terminal will be managed and operated by DP World in a joint venture with Premier Mercantile Services (PMS), one of Pakistan's largest maritime terminal operators.

Designed and developed to international standards, DP World Lahore offers the local trading community a 25,000 sq ft fully equipped container freight station (CFS) and will also provide local haulage services beyond the gate to the customers' doorstep.