Karachi Port is one of the largest and busiest ports in South Asia, handling container traffic, bulk cargo, oil tankers, and general freight from across the world. The port complex occupies the entire western shore of the city, from the tip of the peninsular port area up through the industrial estates of the harbour's northern edge. The Karachi Port Trust, which manages the main harbour, and the Port Qasim Authority, which manages the newer deep-water port to the east, together process millions of tonnes of cargo annually.
The port is not open to casual visitors, but views over the harbour are possible from Keamari and the adjacent boat basin, where the scale of the shipping operations — the container cranes, the anchored bulk carriers, the constant movement of tugs and barges — gives a visceral sense of the economic engine the city represents. The contrast between the grinding poverty of Machar Colony, the fishing settlement that borders the port, and the billion-dollar infrastructure of the port itself is one of Karachi's sharpest visual juxtapositions.