A set of measures taken by the Chittagong Port Authority in association with its stakeholders helped it improve performance in the containerised cargo handling in the just-concluded calendar year.
Last year the port set new record in all three segments-- containerised cargo handling, total volume of cargo in tonnage and arrival of ships in the port, according to the chairman of the Port Authority.
In the year 2018, the Chittagong Port Authority installed many sophisticated cargo handling equipment including 10 shore-to-ship gantry cranes. The CPA also kept the operational wheel moving round the clock in the port following the demand from the businesses and instructions from the government.
The most important thing was that the importers, exporters, port users and other stakeholders were eager to carry out the cargo handling activities smoothly, according to the observations of the CPA.
These steps were taken in line with a meeting with all the stakeholders organised by the port authority on December 28 last year when the businesses, especially the importers, urged the authority to find solution to sloth in unloading and delivery.
In the meeting, the businesses said they had been suffering a lot due to severe shortage of lightering vessels and quay gantry cranes in container terminals.
Chittagong Port secretary Omar Faruq said the Chittagong port handled the highest-ever 2,903,996 (2.904 million) TEUs (twenty feet equivalent unit) of containers in 2018 against 2,667,203 (2.667 million) TEUs in 2017, registering a growth rate of 8.8896.
The total volume of cargo handling of the port in 2018 was 96,311,224 million tonnes at the overall growth of cargo handling at nearly 13 per cent. As many as 3,747 vessels arrived in the country's prime seaport in the calendar year 2018.
Port sources further stated that 265,165 TEUs of containers of import and export, the highest-ever in the port's history, were handled in November 2018. The highest volume of containers was handled in the port in July 2018 and the number of containers handled was 259,210 TEUs.
The businesses and port users opine that performance of Chittagong Port Authority reached a satisfactory level in 2018 due to pragmatic steps taken by the port authority.
The CPA is still lagging behind in terms of both the bulk and containerised cargo handling equipment because most of the age-old equipment lost strength and need to be replaced.
The businesses said shortage of lightering vessels is another problem that hinders smooth unloading of containers from mother vessels in the deep sea at Kutubdia in the Bay and prompt delivery of the cargo to importers' destination from the main port.
At least 300 lighter vessels need to be added to the fleet of the existing lighter ones and the businesses have sought duty-free import or hiring of lightering vessels on rent by the private sector entrepreneurs to meet the shortage by June 2019.
They told the Port Authority, Shipping Ministry and others concerned that short supply of lightering vessels has caused unprecedented deadlock in the delivery of cargo, overstay of mother vessels awaiting cargo lightering and demurrage for the same claimed by ship owners and their local agents are earning a bad name for the port.
The ultimate negative impact of the crisis causes sufferings to the end users or the common people and also the national economy. In different meetings with the authorities concerned, the port users have put forward different suggestions for improvement of the cargo handling in the port that handles 92 per cent of Bangladesh's seaborne import and export.
Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority Rear Admiral Zulfiqur Aziz told the FE that improvement in the overall situation in the port was possible thanks to the contribution of the stakeholders, businesses and port employees who tried their best to keep the port moving round the clock.
He said this is a record that the port has improved a lot in its performance in all the sectors in 2018: handling of container handling at 8.88 per cent growth, tonnage of handled cargo at 12.98 per cent and the total number of ships calling in the port being 3,747 numbers at the growth rate of 11.19 per cent.
Member (Admin and Planning) of the CPA Zafar Alam told the FE today that addition of more items of equipment enhanced the handling capacity while the importers, exporters and business leaders helped improve the port's performance.
He said the port was kept operational round the clock as per instructions of the government and the port will further improve its performance in the coming days as the port authority has started implementing a number of projects to enhance its berthing and other facilities.
