A mother vessel carrying containers arrived in the Chittagong port from the Bussan Port of Korea on Saturday, marking the beginning of direct container transportation between the two ports.
Businesses said it will help reduce the travel time almost by half. Containers generally take 25 to 30 days to reach Chittagong from Korea via Singapore, as they had to wait at Singapore port to be unloaded from mother vessels and then reach Chittagong by feeder vessels.
But now a vessel will take 14 days to reach Chittagong from Korea, said a senior official of the local agent of the vessel of Hyundai Merchant Marine Company Ltd.
Hyundai Merchant is the only company getting such facility for now, sources said.
As the mother vessel, MV Santosa Trader, arrived in the port on Saturday afternoon, it was welcomed at a brief function attended by officials of the Chittagong Port Authority and the shipping line.
Director (traffic) of the CPA Golam Sarwar, Managing Director of the Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd. Kin Shin and Manager of Ocean International Ltd., local agent of the company, Md Jahid Hossain were present.
Five vessels of the company will operate on the new route regularly and will also touch China ports if they carry China-bound containers, officials said.
The Santosa Trader with 783 containers set sail from Korea's Bussan Port, touched Ningbo and Shanghai ports of China and reached Singapore in 10 days and then to Chittagong in four days.
