Situation at the Chittagong port

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jun 2010

THE factors that cost both time and money to Chittagong port users and heighten further their worries are, reportedly, back again. Among the users, exporters, particularly those who export readymade garments (RMG), are much concerned over the recent developments at the port . This is particularly because the turn-around time of the port has, of late, has taken a reverse course and is again on the rise. A few statistics would say it all. The average time of stay of ships at the country's premier port was 2.8 days in April last. In May it increased to 3.4 days and during the first 20 days of the current month, it edged up further to 3.55 days. Then again the productivity of the port has also gone down. On average, the number of containers handled per month during the first quarter of the current calendar year was 14 and the number has come down to 12 lately.
Each ship has to count an additional cost of about US $20000 for an extra day's stay at the port. All such negative developments started surfacing since the port authority itself took over the job of cargo handling at 12 general jetties from May 10 last from private operators, temporarily. The process of transferring the responsibility of cargo handling to private operators has been taking, unusually, a long time. Besides the delay in cargo handling, according to allegations made by exporters, the incidence of pilferage of containers within the secured zone at the port has gone up recently.
Many international shipping lines until early 2007 deliberately avoided the Chittagong port that had earned notoriety for frequent labour unrest, record high turn-around time and poor handling capacity. As far as external trade was concerned, inefficiency of the port was a major sore point. But one of the laudable achievements of the last military-backed caretaker government was the streamlining of the operations of the Chittagong port. Port users heaved then a great sigh of relief following noticeable improvements in the administration of the port affairs. These resulted in a sizeable reduction in costs of doing business.
After the installation of the elected government in January 2009, the efficiency level of the port continued for some time to be maintained at the level achieved during the days of the last caretaker government. Except for port workers' agitation on a couple of occasions and strike by lightering vessel workers, there has not been any major disruption in port operations. But with the taking over of the cargo handling responsibility at 12 general jetties by the port authority because of legal complexities, the situation started changing. Thereafter, the operations at the port have been witnessing a deteriorating scene, despite the fact that container handling by a private operator at the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) and New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) continues to be efficient as before.
The Ministry of Shipping is certainly aware of the latest developments at the port and also about the worries of the port users who do not want go back to the old days of highly inefficient port operations. The ministry should not remain indecisive in the matters of selecting efficient private operator/s for general jetties in the greater interest of the businesses as well as the national economy. Being the lifeline of the country's economy, the Chittagong port deserves a focused attention from the men in power.

Source: The Financial Express