Feeder vessels carrying 100-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) boxes bound for Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) will get priority berthing at Chattogram port.
The port authorities in a notification this week said the facility was earlier entitled only for feeder vessels that carry at least 150-TEU containers.
It was issued in line with a decision made at a meeting of a committee in late March to enhance container handling at the terminal.
A senior Chattogram port official told the FE that the Pangaon ICT is yet to attract adequate users despite its location very close to the capital.
Maximum capacity of the terminal has thus remained unutilised throughout the year.
"Therefore, we are trying to offer various facilities to attract exporters and importers to use the terminal," the official cited.
He said multiple measures are underway to make the terminal attractive for export-import trade.
Priority berthing of vessels at Chattogram port is one of the initiatives, the official mentioned.
Other major steps include measures for keeping the cost of use of Pangaon ICT and Kamalapur Inland Container Depot similar so that shippers also use the water terminal more often for carrying goods.
Steps are also afoot to waive toll on vehicles to and from Pangaon ICT which use Buriganga Bridge.
The Chattogram Port Authority and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority jointly built the Pangaon terminal at a cost of Tk 1.54 billion.
The terminal has a storage capacity of 3,500 TEUs of containers and it handles 116,000-TEU containers annually.
syful-islam@outlook.com