Chittagong Port, the prime seaport of Bangladesh, has moved nine notches down to become the 67th busiest container-handling port among the top 100 ports in the globe, according to Lloyd's - the world's oldest journal on port and shipping.
Chittagong Port's position was 58th among the top 100 ports on Lloyd's List last year.
Chittagong Port was ranked 58th in 2020, 64th in 2019, 70th in 2018, and 71st in 2017 by Lloyd's.
Sources said the port handled 8.0 per cent less containers last year than the previous year (2019) due to coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Lloyd's list, containers worth a total of 63.20 crore or 642 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) were handled in the world in 2020 which was 7% less than the previous year.
However, China's dominant position in the port sector showed little sign of fading this year too. Containerised trade moved through China represented nearly 40% of the total TEUs globally.
The Chinese port of Shanghai is on the top position in this year's chart while the Singapore Port is on the second position like every year.
Lloyd's said in the list, the top 100's (container handling) volume growth softened in the previous year, a trend in line with the projections for more moderate growth from here as the container port sector gains maturity. TEU totals grew by 2.5% in 2019 year on year, against the 4.8% growth figure recorded in 2018 - and the 6% growth posted in 2017.
Lloyd's excluded four ports from the rankings this year, while welcoming the return of Dammam, plus three newcomers: the Chinese debutant Jinzhou, Turkey's Izmit and the Vietnamese port of Hai Phong.
Contacted, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Secretary Mohammed Omar Faruk noted that Chittagong Port obtained the 67th position among the 100 ports of the globe. He mentioned that the coronavirus outbreak hampered the maritime trade from January to December last year (2020) (which impacted Chittagong Port's ranking this year).
"The corona outbreak caused the port to slide down the ladder in the Lloyd's List. Our port slipped to 67th position. We hope that we will overcome the situation in the current year," he added.
It may be mentioned that in 2020, Chittagong Port also failed to improve its position in the world ports' list of three millionaires port.
Chittagong Port handled a total of 30,88,197 TEUs containers from January to December 31 in 2019 while it handled 28,39,987 TEUs containers last year.
nazim07@yahoo.com