Pakistan offers transshipment incentives to draw cargo from shifting routes

Pakistan has placed all its ports under a single regulatory framework with slab-based transshipment concessions, including discounts of up to 80 per cent on wet cargo vessels and wharfage rebates at Karachi Port, as the government tries to capture trade diverted by conflict in the Middle East.

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry announced the framework in August 2026, Dawn reported. It builds on tariff cuts and cargo discounts the government introduced in March 2025.

All four private container terminal operators at Karachi Port have reduced terminal handling charges by up to 25 per cent to attract foreign shipping lines, according to Daily Times.

Customs agencies have changed procedures to cut delays. Off-dock transshipment is now permitted, sea-to-air cargo transfers are allowed, and pre-arrival declarations have been speeded up. International ocean carriers have added direct weekly services between Karachi and ports in Europe and the Gulf.

Work on Karachi Port's navigation channel is due to finish by December 2026 so the port can take ultra-large container ships, Daily Times reported.

Karachi Port rose 30 places to 69th in the Container Port Performance Index for 2025. Cargo handled at the ports reached 19.286 million tonnes in July-October 2026, 3.8 per cent more than in the same four months a year earlier. The ports contribute about Rs12 billion a year to the federal exchequer.

Port officials say the roads linking Karachi's terminals to industrial zones are dilapidated and inflate logistics costs. The leadership of Karachi Port Trust has argued that revenue from the provincial infrastructure cess should be earmarked for upgrading the corridors that serve the port, according to Daily Times. Port authorities are also working on rail and road links and on new digital planning systems, and off-dock container yards have been expanded to free berth space.

Daily Times reported that Pakistani ports have been removed from international war-risk insurance lists, which it said restored confidence among foreign shipping lines, and that private investors are being invited into port expansion, green shipping and shipyard projects, including a proposed Marine Business District.