Pakistan, July 20 -- The arrival of the Bangladesh-flagged M/V Jahan Brothers II at Gwadar Port, carrying 53,064 tonnes of steel billets from Singapore for onward shipment to Al Hamriyah Port in the UAE, has greater commercial significance than the routine official celebration accompanying every vessel call.

The cargo is neither a Pakistani import nor an export. Gwadar is earning its place in the transaction by providing berthing, unloading, temporary storage and reloading services. That is the business of transhipment, and one of the routes through which an underutilised port can begin entering international shipping networks.

The operation follows Gwadar's first commercial bunkering exercise from July 9 to 11, when the LNG carrier Enu...