Where we work · Port Qasim
Port Qasim is not Karachi Port, and QICT is its only container terminal.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
Port Qasim is a separate port from Karachi Port, run by its own authority — Port Qasim Authority, not Karachi Port Trust — with its own tariff and its own free-time rules before storage charges start. Its container terminal is QICT, run by DP World since 2006 on a terminal first built in 1997 and expanded in 2011; it is the only container terminal at this port, unlike Karachi Port's three. Port Qasim also handles bulk cargo, at the Multi-Purpose Terminal, the Iron Ore & Coal Berth, the Pakistan International Bulk Terminal and the FAP Grain & Fertilizer Terminal, and liquid cargo, at FOTCO's oil terminal, the Engro Vopak chemical and LPG terminal, the Liquid Cargo Terminal for edible oils and molasses, and the LNG-1 terminal. We clear at whichever of these your consignment actually lands on.
A different authority, a different tariff
Port Qasim Authority runs this port. It is not a branch of Karachi Port Trust or answerable to it — a separate authority, with its own tariff and its own rule on how long a container sits free before storage charges start. A consignment held up here is held up under Port Qasim's terms, not Karachi Port's, and the reverse is also true.
The container terminal is QICT — Qasim International Container Terminal — run by DP World since the concession came to it in 2006, on a terminal built in 1997 and expanded with a second phase in 2011. Karachi Port has three container terminals to choose between, depending on which one the shipping line is booked into; Port Qasim has one. If you have read our Karachi Port page, that is the whole difference stated plainly — this page covers what is particular to Port Qasim instead of repeating it.
Where cargo actually lands at Port Qasim
| Terminal | Cargo | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| QICT — Qasim International Container Terminal | Containers | DP World, since 2006 (built 1997, second phase 2011) |
| Multi-Purpose Terminal | Bulk, break-bulk and general cargo | Port Qasim Authority |
| Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) | Coal, clinker, cement | Private concession, since 2010 |
| Iron Ore & Coal Berth | Iron ore and coal for Pakistan Steel Mills | Port Qasim Authority |
| FAP Grain & Fertilizer Terminal | Grain and fertiliser | Fauji Akbar Portia |
| FOTCO Oil Terminal | Furnace oil, white oil and crude | Fauji Oil Terminal Company |
| Engro Vopak Terminal | Liquid chemicals and LPG | Engro Vopak |
| Liquid Cargo Terminal (LCT) | Edible oils and molasses | Felda Westbury Qasim |
| LNG-1 | LNG | Private terminal |
What that means for a shipment here
Port Qasim's own tariff sets what the terminal charges for storage, and its own free-time period starts running from discharge, not from when the Goods Declaration is filed. It does not follow Karachi Port's schedule, and a container sitting here is not covered by anything we may have told you about a terminal at Karachi Port.
A shipment can also move in-bond from Port Qasim up to Lahore under Section 121 of the Customs Act, the same as from Karachi Port, without the duty being paid here first — our Lahore office, outside Mughalpura dry port, takes it from there.
What happens once your consignment is at Port Qasim
One container terminal here, not three — but bulk and liquid cargo add terminals of their own.
The vessel berths
Containers go to QICT. Bulk and liquid cargo go to whichever dedicated terminal handles that commodity, and that terminal is fixed by the cargo, not chosen at booking the way a container terminal is at Karachi Port.
The Goods Declaration
Filed on the Pakistan Single Window, against Port Qasim's own collectorate, not Karachi's.
Examination, if it is called
We are at the terminal the cargo is actually on — QICT for a container, the relevant bulk or liquid terminal otherwise.
Charges, duty and gate-out
We settle the terminal's own charges, under Port Qasim's tariff, alongside the duty and taxes, then move the cargo out.
Companies we have cleared through Port Qasim
Chemical and liquid-cargo importers land here more often than through Karachi Port, alongside the machinery and general cargo that comes through either.
Comfort Knitwears · H. Sheikh Noor-ud-Din & Sons · Z-KAP (Zulfiqar Knitting & Processing Mills)
If your consignment splits across terminals here — a machine that lands in a container, with its fuel or feedstock arriving liquid on the same vessel — you are dealing with two terminal operators under two schedules, not one. We coordinate both ends, but we do not merge their queues into a single one.
Questions
What shippers ask us about Port Qasim
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.
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