CMA CGM
Tracking Into Karachi & Port Qasim, Pakistan

CMA CGM Into Pakistan

CMA CGM’s Pakistan-facing service history has been unusually eventful over the past two years, which matters more than the general trade lane list on the carrier’s global page suggests. The AS1 service, which historically ran Qingdao-Shanghai-Ningbo-Nansha-Singapore-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Port Qasim-Karachi-Singapore, was CMA CGM’s main China-to-Pakistan connection, calling Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) directly with a feeder link through Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT) on a weekly Sunday sailing, according to the carrier’s own local Karachi office. That direct call stopped on 9 May 2025, when CMA CGM restructured AS1 to drop Karachi in favour of a Colombo call, transshipping Pakistan-bound cargo from there instead. The change came during a period when CMA CGM also introduced operational protection measures for its Pakistan-calling vessels amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions, and other carriers made similar adjustments around the same window.

That is not the end of the story: CMA CGM has announced it will merge AS1 with its Pearl River Express (PEARL) service into a combined Pearl AS1 Pendulum Service (PEARLAS1) from 30 March 2026, and the published rotation for that successor service includes Karachi again, alongside Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Colombo and a run of Far East and US West Coast ports. In practical terms, this means the correct expectation for a CMA CGM booking into Pakistan depends heavily on the date: transshipment via Colombo under the interim AS1 rotation, or a restored direct call once PEARLAS1 takes over. Check the service code printed on your booking confirmation or bill of lading rather than assuming either pattern by default.

Clearing a CMA CGM Shipment in Pakistan

Once cargo is discharged, whether via a direct Karachi call or after a Colombo transshipment, clearance runs through the same WeBOC and Pakistan Single Window filing as any other sea import: bill of lading, commercial invoice, packing list and any required certificate of origin need to be matched against the manifest before a Goods Declaration is processed. Maalbardaar handles this end to end, and it is worth flagging documentation early on a CMA CGM Pakistan booking specifically because the carrier’s service structure has changed more than once recently. A house bill or forwarder-issued document referencing an old AS1 routing that no longer matches the vessel’s actual Colombo transshipment can create manifest-matching questions at clearance that a more stable rotation would not.

If your shipment moved during the Colombo-transshipment period, build in the extra dwell and reload time at Colombo when estimating arrival, since that leg does not appear as a distinct exception event on most tracking timelines; it simply shows as a gap between the Far East leg ending and the Karachi leg beginning. Once PEARLAS1 direct calls resume, that gap should shorten back toward what the historic AS1 rotation offered, but confirm this against your own voyage’s schedule rather than assuming the transition happens cleanly on the announced date.