Mongla Port, the second largest sea harbor of the country, witnessed anchoring of at least 117 foreign ships in last December breaking all previous records, said an official.
The ship mostly contained car, coal, fertiliser cement clinker, LPG crying vessels, ceramic materials, various raw materials and equipment of Roopur nuclear plant and railway line project etc, he said.
In February 2019, MPA witnessed at least 100 foreign ship anchoring and 106 foreign ship anchoring in November, 2020, reports BSS.
“The record touched a milestone in the monthly statistics in last seven decades after establishing the port,” the official said.
The Mongla Port has been playing a vital role in country’s economic development since 2009, he added.
Deputy Secretary of Mongla Port Authority (MPA) Makhruzzaman said it turned into a losing sea port in the years from 2001 to 2008 because of manifold problems.
In February, 2007-2008 fiscal year, only seven foreign ships were anchored at the port.
A total of nine development projects and four ADB programmes were implemented from 2009 to 2017 involving Taka 4.54 billion aiming to enhance ability of the Mongla Port, Makhruzzaman said.
Currently, at least 10 projects are being implemented and five projects are under the process to get approval and four other projects are under DPP.
The official, however, said the MPA has already ensured different facilities for Mongla port users to get speedy and quality services.
The facilities include capital dredging at the Pashur River, purchasing different 42 containers and cargo handling machineries and setting up modern channel at Pashur River to arrive and discharge foreign ship round the clock.
Contacted, Chairman of MPA Rear Admiral M Shajahan said that the government has taken many initiatives to enhance ability of Mongla port.
“The MPA sees the record ship arrival due to intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, special direction of shipping ministry, cooperation by Mongla Port users and hard work by the employees of the organisation,” he said.
Number of foreign ship arrival is increasing day by day as industrialisation was boosted up centring Mongla Port and Rampal Power Plant.
Investors are importing different production materials like machineries, cement clinkers, car, fertilisers and equipment for industrialisation, Shajahan said.
The MPA has earned a profit of Taka 2.66 billion in 2016-17 FY while Taka 2.86 billion in 2017-18 FY, he said.
In 2007-08 FY, a total of 750,000 tonne of cargos were handled at the port. The cargo handling has increased at least 9.7 million tonnes in 17-18 FY and in the current FY, it was targeted at 120,000 tonnes, he said.
Dredging is progressing in Rampal Power Plant, Food Silo and Outer berth areas in the Pashur River, he added.
In line with the ‘Vision-2021’ taken by the government, all the projects are being implemented to attract foreign companies in economic zones as well as ensure balanced development of every region of the country.