By: AGBI

AD Ports has hired Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord to expand its terminals in Karachi, Pakistan.

Noatum Ports, the UAE company’s global ports operating arm, is overseeing the project to deepen berths and navigational channels at Karachi Gateway Terminal. This will extend vessel capacity from 305 metres to 350 metres in length and 13 metres to 15.5 metres in draft (the vessel’s depth below the waterline).

Once completed, the Karachi container terminal’s annual throughput will rise from 750,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units to 1 million TEUs.

Van Oord’s dredging work will also double bulk vessel capacity from 60,000 to 120,000 tonnes at the adjacent Karachi Gateway Terminal Multipurpose.

The works are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. 

The container and multipurpose terminals in Pakistan’s largest city are joint ventures between AD Ports and Dubai-based Kaheel Terminals.

AD Ports entered the Pakistan market in 2023 through long-term concessions to operate container and bulk cargo berths at Karachi port. It has committed to invest nearly AED1.1 billion ($300 million) to modernise port infrastructure and digital systems.

In August the company said it was exploring the development of an industrial zone near Karachi and Qasim ports. It has opened its first representative office in Islamabad.

AD Ports is listed on the Abu Dhabi exchange, and sovereign wealth fund ADQ owns about 75 percent of the business. Its shares closed 0.5 percent lower at AED4.06 on Tuesday. The price is up 5 percent in the year to date.