Pakistan Moves to Secure Gulf Trade Routes with New Container Fleet Amid Ongoing Iran Conflict

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has directed its state-run shipping carrier to acquire up to five container vessels as it seeks to strengthen trade links with Gulf markets amid prolonged maritime disruption from the Iran war, a company spokesperson said.

The conflict, which began in late February, severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and drove up freight costs, hitting Pakistani exporters reliant on Gulf markets even as overall exports to the region have shown signs of recovery.

“In line with its fleet development strategy, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation is currently considering the acquisition and chartering of three to five feeder vessels to enhance its regional service capacity,” Ayesha Leena, a spokesperson for the national shipping carrier, PNSC, told Arab News last week.

The container capacity of each vessel will range from 1,100 to 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure of shipping-container capacity.

>
“PNSC is expected to announce its expanded regional feeder services in the near future,” Leena continued without specifying the exact timeline.

PNSC currently operates five bulk carriers and eight tankers across three regional service routes: the Pakistan Gulf Service, Pakistan Red Sea Service and Pakistan South Asia Service, which covers Karachi, Colombo and Chittagong.

The latest move comes as data from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) show a volatile pattern in Pakistan’s exports to the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries since the outbreak of the Iran war.

“Exports had risen 25.2 percent year-on-year in February, before contracting 2.9 percent in March, 10.6 percent in April and 16.7 percent in May,” Mian Zahid Hussain, chairman of the Policy Advisory Board at the FPCCI, said. “They rebounded 13.9 percent in June and grew another 4.7 percent year-on-year in July.”

Overall, Pakistan exported $1.944 billion worth of goods to GCC countries between January and July 2026, up 2.1 percent from $1.904 billion during the same period last year. The FPCCI official described the performance as “resilient but concentrated,” with the United Arab Emirates accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total.

The monthly pattern coincided with sharp shifts in the regional conflict and efforts to restore maritime traffic. The Iran war began on Feb. 28, followed by a temporary ceasefire in April and months of negotiations. An interim agreement was reached in June but began to unravel in July amid renewed disputes over the Strait of Hormuz.

The waterway, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war, remains severely disrupted after the June agreement collapsed.

A Commerce Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the uncertainty had affected buying decisions in Middle Eastern markets.

“From a business perspective, buyers hold back their orders during unstable conditions because demand for all items is not uniform,” the official said. “Imports and exports of essential items such as food and medicines continue, while purchases of clothing and luxury goods can be deferred.”

The official said elevated ocean freight rates had left exporters with few viable alternatives, with air freight averaging $2.00 to $2.50 per kilogram compared with $1,800 to $2,000 for a standard sea container carrying around 10 metric tons.

Exporters of perishable goods have been hit particularly hard.

Waheed Ahmed, patron-in-chief of the All-Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, said the cost of shipping a 40-foot refrigerated container of mangoes to Gulf markets had surged to between $8,000 and $8,500 this year from $1,000 to $1,400 last year.

Ahmed estimated Pakistan’s mango export volumes to Gulf countries had fallen 50 percent from last year, while overall fruit exports to the region were down 30 percent to 40 percent.

The sharp decline in fruit shipments despite an overall increase in GCC exports highlights the uneven impact of the maritime disruption, with some sectors and markets absorbing the higher freight costs better than others.

The FPCCI report said strengthening PNSC could improve shipping capacity, reduce dependence on foreign carriers and provide more reliable connections to Gulf markets. It noted that the government had already been pursuing a broader expansion of the national carrier’s fleet before the latest regional disruptions.

PNSC has also been expanding regional connectivity, including through a dedicated Gulf feeder link between Karachi and Fujairah launched earlier this year.

The latest directive, however, specifically targets container capacity at a time when renewed hostilities have again put pressure on commercial shipping.

Iran said this week the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until Washington fulfilled conditions contained in the June interim agreement, while diplomatic efforts to revive the deal have stalled.

Source link