Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi on Tuesday said that a concept paper on transshipment has been initiated by Ministry of Maritime Affairs to maximize potential of our ports. The minister sharing a link on social media networking site transshipment@moma.gov.pk requested feedback from Maritime sector fraternity before the policy is formalized. According to Ministry, transshipment is generally understood as the act of off-loading a container from one ship and loading it onto another ship. Cargo needs to be transshipped as in any service operated by shipping line there are practical restrictions in terms of coverage of ports. There is no shipping line that can cover all ports around the world on a single service and therefore the services are segregated into trade lanes. Such lines also have what is known as transshipment hubs which are the ports on their service routes that have transshipment connection options to other parts of the world. The first form is hub-and-spoke transshipment which connects short distance feeder lines with long distance deep-sea lines, linking regional and global shipping networks. The second form is called intersection transshipment, where the transshipment hub acts as a point of interchange several long-distance shipping routes. The third forms involve relay transshipment where the transshipment hub connects shipping routes along the same region, but servicing different ports calls.