Pakistan plans to launch ferry service for international destinations: minister

Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi said on Tuesday that the cabinet had allowed his ministry to launch a ferry service for passengers travelling to and from all possible destinations across the world. “Maritime frontiers [are] now open for sea travel,” Zaidi said in a tweet. The minister has been campaigning to get approval for his plans to launch a passenger service from Pakistan to international destinations for the past couple of months. Related: Ferry service should be started for Hajj: maritimes minister Zaidi said the ferry service would operate like the Pakistan International Airlines. There would be a port security force similar to the airport security force, he added. He had said in December 2019 that he had sought a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Defence for sea routes leading to Jeddah, Basra, Oman and Dubai. “A ferry service should be started,” the minister had told reporters in Karachi.  “I want to re-start it for Hajj as well.”