COSCO
Tracking Into Karachi, Port Qasim & Gwadar, Pakistan

COSCO Into Pakistan

COSCO’s presence in Pakistan runs on two distinct tracks, and it is worth keeping them separate. The first is a conventional main-line container service: COSCO’s PMX rotation links Karachi and Mundra with Colombo, Port Klang and major Chinese ports including Qingdao, Shanghai and Ningbo, following the pattern most large carriers use to connect Pakistan to Far East trade through established Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian transshipment points. Trade sources describe this service as calling South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT) and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) on Karachi Port, but PICT’s 21-year build-operate-transfer concession ended in June 2023, with its East Wharf berths now run by KGTL. If your documentation or a forwarder still references PICT for a COSCO booking, that is either outdated information or a genuinely separate current arrangement we could not confirm; either way, check the actual discharge terminal against your voyage’s own schedule rather than assuming PICT.

The second track is more distinctive: COSCO operates the Karachi-Gwadar-Gulf Express (KGS), which first sailed in March 2018 as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, escorted into Gwadar by Pakistan Navy vessels as a flagship milestone for the port. Its published rotation runs Port Qasim, Karachi, Gwadar, Jebel Ali, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi before returning via Jebel Ali to Port Qasim, connecting Gwadar to Gulf trading hubs rather than running a China leg directly. This is, as far as we could establish, the only Gwadar container service any carrier covered on this site operates. We could not confirm from a recent source whether KGS sailings are still currently active as opposed to a service that launched with fanfare in 2018 and may have since been adjusted or wound down, so treat any Gwadar-routed COSCO booking as something to confirm directly with the carrier’s Pakistan office rather than assume from the original 2018 announcement.

Supporting both services is a substantial documented local presence: COSCO SHIPPING Lines Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. acts as general agent for the COSCO Group in the country, headquartered in Karachi with branch offices in Lahore and Faisalabad. That branch network is more extensive than most carriers on this site publish for Pakistan specifically.

Clearing a COSCO Shipment in Pakistan

Clearance for a COSCO shipment discharged at Karachi Port or Port Qasim follows the standard WeBOC and Pakistan Single Window process: bill of lading, commercial invoice, packing list and any required certificate of origin need to be filed and matched against the manifest before the Goods Declaration is processed. Maalbardaar manages this filing directly. Given that COSCO’s own container prefixes are split across multiple registered entities (as the global COSCO page explains for CSNU, CCLU and CSLU, plus Florens-leased CBHU boxes), it is worth double-checking which prefix is on your container before assuming a tracking mismatch means a documentation problem.

If your shipment discharges at a terminal that differs from what an older booking confirmation or forwarder quote stated, particularly if it references PICT, that is most likely a reflection of the 2023 PICT-to-KGTL transition rather than an error in your paperwork; confirm the correct terminal with COSCO’s Karachi office before arranging inland transport. For any shipment routed via Gwadar on the KGS rotation, build in extra lead time for confirmation with the local agent given the lack of recent published scheduling detail for that specific service.