A trading house, founded for what comes next.
ZERCO Private Limited is a Gwadar-based trading and sales representation firm, built from day one to operate at the heart of the next decade of global trade.
A trading house, founded for what comes next.
ZERCO Private Limited was incorporated on 29 April 2026 by Farooq Karim, with a clear founding thesis: the next decade of global trade will reshape itself around new infrastructure, new corridors, and new partnerships. Pakistan's deepwater port at Gwadar — central to the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Maritime Silk Road — is one of the most consequential of those new pieces.
We were not built to retrofit old workflows onto new infrastructure. We were built from day one to operate at the heart of it.
ZERCO handles imports, exports, global trading, and sales representation. We work with manufacturers, brand owners, wholesalers, and distributors across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, China, and Central Asia.
Farooq Karim, CEO & Director.
Farooq Karim · Gwadar
Farooq Karim founded ZERCO Private Limited in 2026, with a conviction shaped by long observation of the Pakistani trading economy: the country's export industries are structurally undervalued in international markets, and the infrastructure required to change that is now in place. The question is no longer whether Gwadar will become a trade hub. The question is who builds the operating layer on top of it.
Operating from Gwadar — a few kilometers from the port and the Free Zone — Farooq leads ZERCO's commercial strategy, supplier and buyer relationships, and the representation portfolio. He works directly with each client, every transaction. As the firm scales, that posture is non-negotiable.
“Gwadar is not the future of Pakistani trade. It's the present — most of the world just hasn't caught up yet.”
Why Gwadar, why now.
Four pillars of structural advantage — each independently meaningful, and compounding when stacked.
CPEC and the BRI
The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and the wider Belt and Road Initiative are reshaping how goods move between East Asia, the Gulf, and Europe. The route from Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang region is roughly 3,000 kilometers — versus the traditional 12,000-kilometer Strait of Malacca passage. The implications for freight cost, transit time, and emissions are not incremental.
GSP+ access to the EU
Pakistan’s GSP+ status with the European Union, in effect since January 2014, eliminates tariffs on roughly two-thirds of product lines, giving Pakistani exporters a meaningful pricing edge into 27 European markets. For categories where the duty differential matters — textiles, leather goods, surgical instruments, processed foods — this is structural advantage, not a marketing line.
Free zone, deep water, dual access
Gwadar Free Zone tax incentives, modeled on China’s Special Economic Zones, lower the cost of operating from the port. The deepwater port itself accommodates the largest container vessels in service today. The Gwadar International Airport, operational since October 2024, layers in air freight and passenger access alongside sea movement.
Direct China connectivity
Direct exports between Gwadar and China have been operational since 2023, and the route continues to scale. As capacity matures, Gwadar moves from being a strategic asset on a map into a functioning, repeatable trade corridor.