02-08-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Sahiwal coal plant says concerned at shortage of railway wagons
ISLAMABAD: The Sahiwal coal-fired power plant has raised serious concerns over the acute shortage of railway wagons needed to transport coal from Karachi ports to the plant site, warning that the continued shortfall could lead to a forced outage and pose a risk to national grid stability, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
Huaneng Shandong Ruyi (Pakistan) Energy (Private) Limited (HSRL), the Chinese company operating the 1,320 MW plant—a flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project — has formally taken up the matter with key authorities. The plant is already facing severe financial stress due to a significant payment backlog from the Central Power Purchasing Agency – Guarantee (CPPA-G).
In a letter addressed to the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, HSRL CEO Liu Zeng Rui warned of a growing mismatch between the high power dispatch allocation from the Independent System Operator (ISMO/NPCC) and the coal transportation capacity of Pakistan Railways.
Imported coal supply to Sahiwal power plant: CPPA-G asks PR to increase number of freight trains
'If the current high dispatch schedule continues without a corresponding improvement in coal transportation, our on-site inventory is projected to drop below 50,000 tons by mid-August,' he cautioned.
Despite repeated engagements and verbal assurances, the daily average supply of wagons remains around 540–590—roughly 2.5 trains per day—against a requirement of five trains per day, or approximately 1,000 wagons. This gap continues to impact timely transportation of coal.
To further emphasize the urgency of this matter, the wagon gap over recent months is as follows: (i) May 2025, the demand was for 6,200 empty wagons, but only 3,019were received, creating a deficit of 3,181 wagons (51.30%);(ii) in June 2025, the demand was for 5,800 empty wagons, but only 2,923 were provided, resulting in a deficit of 2,877 wagons (49.60%); and (iii) in July 2025, the demand was for 5,800 empty wagons, but only 3,001 were provided, resulting in a deficit of 2,799 wagons (44.81%).
The power company maintains that this persistent shortfall in wagon supply has made it impossible to transport available coal inventory from Karachi ports to the plant in a timely manner.
The resulting backlog at port and terminal yards is: (i) approximately 500,000 MT of coal is presently available at Karachi Ports; (ii) four vessels are scheduled to arrive at PQA in August carrying a total of 170,000 MT of coal; and (iii) based on high dispatch in this year, another 11 POS (470,000 MT of coal) are waiting to be implemented for September-November.
'This transportation bottleneck has led to a continuous decline in plant-side inventory over the past two months, putting power plant's operations and by extension, national grid's stability at a considerable risk,' the Company added.
The Company further stated that the number of Damaged Wagons (DVs) within Pakistan Railways has been increasing, while the availability of healthy serviceable wagons is steadily declining. At the same time, other power plants and commercial clients are relying on similar wagons, placing additional pressure on the existing fleet. As a result, the current number of available wagons is no longer sufficient to meet demand.
The Power Company has requested for policy level interventions from the relevant departments of Pakistan to consider the following urgent measures: (i) to coordinate sufficient wagon allocation to ensure daily coal transportation matches the current power generation schedule;(ii) if PR's transportation limitations cannot be resolved immediately, it is requested that the grid dispatch load to the plant be temporarily reduced to align with actual daily transport capacity of PR; and (iii) as the company has ample coal stock at the port but faces transport limitations, it requests that no capacity payment deduction or liquidity damages be imposed in case of plant shutdown caused by coal shortage .
The Company has requested that PR should accelerate the repairing and recommissioning of damaged hopper wagons to meet the coal transportation needs.
The Company has also sought a written update from Pakistan Railways on its action plan to improve wagon availability considering their long term operational requirements.
'We remain committed to maintaining full-generation availability and stand ready to provide all supporting data and participate in follow-up discussions. An urgent coordination across departments will be critical in averting a forced outage situation and ensuring grid stability. We urge all stakeholders to treat this matter with the highest priority and intervene immediately to restore the reliability of coal transportation to our facility,' CEO HSRL concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
