Dwaipayan Barua

The delivery of import cargo from Chattogram port as well as private off docks has been sharply impacted by a countrywide two-day blockade that ended yesterday.

Transport of export and import cargo to and from the Chattogram port started to face disruptions while transport costs have started rising well before opposition parties began enforcing a countrywide two-day blockade yesterday.

A vessel bound for Singapore yesterday delayed its departure from Chattogram port as a good number of its export containers failed to reach on time amid a nationwide blockade that began on Tuesday.

The transport of export and import containers between private inland container depots (ICDs) and the Chattogram port faced little disruption yesterday, the first day of the three-day blockade enforced by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

A total of 24 new pieces of container handling equipment, including four quayside gantry cranes (QGCs), purchased by Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) at a cost of Tk 394 crore were launched yesterday.

Operators of foreign container feeder vessels have allegedly been facing hassles obtaining waiver certificates, which are mandatory for loading cargo to and from Bangladesh.

Anxiety has gripped tea producers in Bangladesh as both sales and prices at the weekly international tea auction in Chattogram city are experiencing a drastic fall this season.

Another incident of someone trying to leave the country by hiding in a container shipped from Chattogram Port has raised security concerns.

The dream of realising a deep seaport at Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar is now a step closer as Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has taken charge of an artificial navigation channel created for vessel movement required for a coal-fired power plant.  

Two more container scanners are going to arrive at the Chattogram port within a couple of days, enabling checking exports of contraband and the prevention of money laundering.    

Two months have passed, but the Pangaon-bound container vessel Pangaon Express that sank in the bay near Noakhali’s Bhasanchar on July 6 with 72 import-laden containers is yet to be rescued.

The container vessel sank on July 6 in the bay near Noakhali’s Bhasanchar

During the 2021 Covid lockdown, Priungshu Roy Chowdhury, a schoolboy from Chattogram, found a productive way to spend his time by learning to sing the national anthems of 120 countries in just eight months.

Theft and piracy have become a matter of concern for the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) as six such incidents took place in vessels arriving at the port in the six months to July this year.

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Trader turnout remained poor at Khatunganj’s wholesale hub for essential commodities while import cargo delivery low from the Chattogram port’s outer anchorage yesterday although it stopped raining in the last two days following incessant downpours since last Thursday.  

Unloading of goods from larger vessels at the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port remains suspended due to rough seas since Friday, while trade at the Khatunganj-Chaktai wholesale hub has dropped significantly.

Holding its rank among the busiest seaports worldwide could be compared to climbing an oiled bamboo for Chattogram port as it again slipped by three notches in Lloyd’s List: One Hundred Ports 2023.

The 2023 edition of the Lloyd's List One Hundred Ports was published last week

Anxiety and frustration continue to grow among importers whose goods-filled containers are yet to be salvaged following the tilting of a vessel in the Bay of Bengal near the Bhasan Char coast 16 days ago.