Chittagong port, the prime sea port of the country set a new record of handling containers last month.
The port operators handled 2,92,455 TEUs of containers in the month.
Earlier, the port operators handled 2,65,000 TEUs in November last year.
Enamul Karim, Director (Transport) of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) said, "Chittagong sea port set a new record of handling containers in the last month. 2,72,922 TEUs of containers were handled at Chittagong port, 9,338 TEUs at Kamalapur ICD, 3,853 TEUs at Pangaon Terminal and 6,332 TEUs handled by off-dock operators."
Berth operator M H Chowdhury Limited handled 16,895 TEUs containers which is also a record for an operator in one month.
F M Swakat, Managing Director of M H Chowdhury Limited, said, "As the logistic support of Chittagong port increased in the current year, we could set the record of handling containers last month."
Officials of the CPA said the Chittagong port is depending on the private operators for handling the containers.
Omar Faruk, Secretary of the CPA, said, "A number of projects have increased the port's inner berths".
The CPA has introduced strict limits on how long a ship can stay at the port. It is aimed at quickening loading and unloading of containers to reduce congestions, he added.
A total of 3370 ships could berth at Chittagong seaport in 2017 and 3747 ships in 2018. Besides, the stay time of ships at the port decreased last year.
Sources said, now the off-dock container carrier ships are staying at the port only 35 hours while export container carrier ships are leaving the port within an hour only. Besides, stay time of ships of imported containers was not more than seven days last year against 8 to 9 days in 2017.
