DOT Desk: Container handling at the Chattogram port posted a year-on-year growth of 8.88 percent in 2018, reports The Daily Sun.
The country’s premier seaport also posted a 12.98 percent year-on-year growth in overall cargo handling in the immediate past calendar year.
Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) officials said round-the-clock services delivered by the port and agencies concerned, installation of new equipment and cooperation by the port users helped increase the efficiency of the port.
The port handled a total of 2903,996 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers in 2018 against the 2667,202 containers in 2017. This means that the volume of containers handled by the port soared by 236,794 units in the span of a year. The number of the containers handled in 2016 was 24,21484 TEUs.
Besides, the port also saw a rise in the number of ships in its dock in 2018. A total of 3,747 vessels arrived in 2018 against the 3,370 vessels in 2017, according to official figures. The vessels carried some 96311,224 tonnes of cargo in 2018 against the 85246,948 tonnes in the previous year.
The port saw 10.15 per cent growth in container handling and 10.34 per cent growth in cargo handling in 2017.
There was a time when 20 to 22 vessels had to wait for berthing at the port jetty. But the turnaround time was reduced significantly in 2018 thanks to a set of initiatives taken by the port authority.
Contacted, Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Commodore Zulfiqur Aziz told the daily sun that customs and other related agencies are now providing services round-the-clock to speed up activities at the port.
Besides, a good number of equipment, including six quay gantry cranes (QGC) were procured and put into operation in 2018, said the port chief.
“The new cranes increased the number of QGC to 10 from the previous four. Each QGC can handle around one lakh containers a year,” he said.
On the other hand, stakeholders, including the C&F agents, port users and officials and employees of the CPA played a critical role in speeding up the overall activities and the level of efficiency at the port, said Commodore Zulfiqur.
He also said they will add more equipment this year to further increase the container handling capacity of Chattogram Port.
CPA Secretary Omar Faruq said the construction of the bay terminal and Patenga container terminal are in progress.
“Once completed, the terminals will help facilitate the country’s growing trade activities,” he said, adding that efforts are underway to expand the area of the Chattogram port into the sea.
Contacted, Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Mahbubul Alam said access to quicker and efficient port service has been a long-standing demand of the businesspeople.
He also stressed the need for proper and timely implementation of the bay terminal and other ongoing projects to keep pace with the rise in trade and economic activities.