Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed the authorities concerned to acquire ships on lease to enhance the fleet of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC). He issued these directives while chairing a meeting in Islamabad today regarding matters related to Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.

According to Radio Pakistan, the Prime Minister emphasized that a valuable foreign exchange of four billion dollars is being spent annually from the national treasury on trade through the sea route due to a shortage of ships in the PNSC fleet. He instructed the relevant authorities to present a PNSC business plan within two weeks that includes a roadmap to alleviate the annual four billion dollar burden on the national exchequer.

The Prime Minister received a briefing on the performance of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation during the meeting. It was informed that the PNSC currently operates ten ships of various types in its fleet, which have the capacity to handle 724,643 tons of cargo.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, and senior officials of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.