Chittagong Port set yet another record as it handled some 2 54,198 containers of 20 foot equivalent units (TEUs) in March, the highest in a single month.
The country's largest seaport broke the record in December 2017, handling 2, 49,552 TEUs.
In the calendar year 2017, the port handled 25, 66,597 TEUs of containers against 23, 46,909 TEUs in the previous year (2016). In terms of container-handling in a single day, the port handled 9,695 TEUs on December 22, 2017, the highest ever until last year, data available with the Chittagong Port Authority shows.
The port office said the surge in the container-handling in the port is attributed mostly to the rapid pick-up in exports and imports with more containers being routed through the port.
The Chittagong Port Authority has extended its container yards from 30,000 TEUs to almost 50,000 TEUs, added a good number of new container-handling equipment to the jetties, expedited container-scanning in the jetty gates, raised ship draft from 9.0 metre to 9.5 metre and length overall of vessels up to 190 metres, enabling larger ships to berth in general cargo berths and introduced night navigation for vessels up to 175 length overall.
Officials said that the port's container-handling has increased by one million (10 lakh) TEUs in five years from 2012 to 2016 and has taken a number of projects for the construction of terminals to cope with the rapid growth in import and export through the port that handles 92 per cent of the country's total sea-borne trade and transportation.
Port authority chairman Zulfiquer Aziz said that there is no alternative to the port as it will help the country reach the goal of becoming a fast-growing economy in the world.
He said that the government has undertaken a dozen mega projects and has started implementing those in infrastructure, energy, power generation, and communication sectors apart from developing 100 economic zones across the country.
The implementation of such projects has facilitated imports and spurred industrial growth, helping the Chittagong Port play its role.
Aimed at exceeding its current trend in growth at an average 15 per cent a year the port authority has undertaken six terminal development projects.
Of them, the construction of the Patenga Container Terminal is progressing speedily and is expected to be completed by 2019, said Mr Aziz.
Of the rest five projects, Laldia Multipurpose Terminal is expected to be constructed by 2020, Bay Container Terminal by 2021, Karnaphuli Container Terminal by 2022, Mirsarai jetty for the Mirsarai Economic Zone by 2023 and Matarbari Port for the coal-based mega power generation plant by 2024.
The port has also planned to construct a strategic floating terminal in the Bay and a passenger terminal in Cox's Bazar.
Alongside the construction of the terminal projects, the authority said the procurement of 11 rubber gantry cranes, four straddle carriers, five container movers, six gantry cranes, five reach stackers and one rail-mounted gantry crane is in the pipeline. Economists said the Chittagong Port would become one of leading maritime facilities in Southeast Asia once these projects are implemented and commissioned by 2025.
The port has currently 277 types of container-handling equipment including pneumatic conveyor belt and bagging plant. Quay gantry cranes, rubber gantry cranes, mobile harbour cranes of different capacities for handling containers and mobile cranes of different capacities for general cargo-handling, are among 300-plus equipment.
But the port has been facing challenges like congestion, which has been the norm since 2016.
Executive director of the Policy Research Institute Dr Ahsan Mansur said that while low labour costs have made Bangladesh a major global player in garment exports, weak supply chain infrastructure such as ports is holding back the country to realise its further potential.
Even though trade is increasing, infrastructure development has failed to keep up.
Referring to a World Bank report on ports in South Asia released in March 2018, Mr Mansur recently said if Bangladesh's port sector was as efficient as Sri Lanka's, the average value of exports to the United States would be 0.5 per cent higher.
In a keynote paper presented recently in Chattogram city, Mr Mansur said that the port authority has taken measures to ease the existing congestion in the port.
The measures include maintaining the berthing time and serial of ships during unloading cargoes; introducing a special shift during lunch time and 24-hour unloading of cargo from the berthing ships.
The authority also brought down the turnaround time significantly in the past few months, but the outer anchorage recently faced congestion problem due to substantial growth in cargo, containers and ships, he added.
