After the partition, Pakistan began with a fail shipping base. There were only three old ships with a dead weight the total weight of cargo which a ship can carry of 18000 tonnes. Almost all of the goods that were imported from other countries were transported on foreign ships, putting an additional burden on Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves.
In 1963, the government formulated a new shipping policy which, among other things, sanctioned the purchase of 33 ship. During the same years, the National Shipping Corporation NSC was created. Its ships began to operate on the UK continent route Singapore, HongKong, China and Japan and by 1966, to the Red Sea and the Gulf. By 1970, the Corporation had 31 vessels with a dead weight of 336931 tonnes. There were also an additional 40 ships owned by private companies. A total of 71 ships handled the entire inter wing trade between East and West Pakistan and 14 percent of the foreign seaborne trade. They could also carry 6600 passengers at any one time.
In 1974, the private shipping companies were nationalized. To manage them, the government created the Pakistan Shipping Corporation. The National Shipping Corporation continued to function independently. In 1979, the two corporations were merged under the name of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.
At present, the Pakistan shipping industry is facing problems, both the number of ships and the dead weight have decreased.