Wan Hai Lines Stops Bookings for Afghanistan and Central Asia Cargo Routed Through Pakistan Ports

Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines has stopped accepting bookings for cargo bound for Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries through Pakistani ports. The suspension took effect immediately and has no end date. The carrier’s customer advisory gave the continued closure of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and ongoing regional tensions as the reasons.

Scope of the suspension

The ban covers any container discharged in Pakistan for onward transit to those markets. The advisory says this explicitly includes transit that shippers or third parties arrange themselves. That goes further than other carriers, which have told customers not to plan new Afghan and CIS transit bookings but have not ruled out self-arranged onward movement.

Background to the border closure

Pakistan closed its trade crossings with Afghanistan, including Torkham and Chaman, on 12 October 2025, after deadly border clashes. Since then:

• CMA CGM Pakistan has told customers not to plan new Afghan and CIS transit bookings, saying thousands of containers were stranded at terminals.
• In January, Hapag-Lloyd said transit boxes were being held at ports and border points.
• Afghan Transit Trade fell to 11,592 containers worth US$367 million in FY2025-26, from nearly 89,000 containers before the Taliban returned to power.

Trade is moving to other routes, at a higher cost

Citing World Bank data, reports say 48 per cent of Afghanistan’s August imports came through Central Asian routes and 46 per cent through Iran. Pakistan’s share was close to zero. A trade body leader in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce said a Karachi-to-Afghanistan container that once cost about US$2,000 and took around 10 days can now cost up to US$10,000 and take up to two months on detours.

What it means for Indian exporters

Chabahar is the obvious alternative, but it has problems. According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the US conditional sanctions waiver for the port ended on 26 April 2026. Reports say India is working out a temporary handover of the Shahid Beheshti terminal to Iran, and that few ships call there. Some Afghan fruit now reaches India by air, a channel that has grown as border disruptions deepened.

Forwarders quoting for Central Asian business should check routing before accepting bookings.