Dwaipayan Barua

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.  

The Swadhinata Stambha (Independence Monument, third phase) project is going to see a number of new changes and additions to its original plan, as authorities plan to install a variety of structures at Suhrawardy Udyan, the historic site that witnessed significant moments of the country’s journey towards liberation.

The government is going to appoint an international operator to run New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) of the Chattogram port. 

Development spending in Bangladesh stood at 32.10 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the slowest pace of implementation during the rule of the Awami League, official figures showed.  

Although the government discourages implementing agencies of development projects in Bangladesh from seeking time and cost revisions, several proposals in this regard are placed at each meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

In a first for Bangladesh, a consignment of watermelon has been shipped to Malaysia through Chattogram port by Sattar International, a vegetable exporter based in the port city.

In Sonaichhari union alone -- where both BM depot and Sheema Oxygen Plant are located -- there are around 50 shipbreaking yards, several re-rolling mills, oxygen plants and one LP gas plant

The government’s expenses on interest payments rose more than 22 per cent to Tk 40,792 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal year owing largely to higher expenditures on treasury bills, official figures showed.  

Container movement through Chattogram port began a downward trend in the second half of 2022 that has stretched into the first two months of the current calendar year, according to shipping agents.

Sitakunda has frequently made headlines for accidents inside industrial units, but these two incidents have adversely affected locals quite some distance from the sites.

A breakthrough finally came about yesterday over a stalemate centring issuance of waiver certificates which allow foreign flagged container vessels to carry cargo to and from the country’s seaports.

The first seven months of the current fiscal year of 2022-23 saw the lowest implementation rate of the annual development programme (ADP) in the last three years, with only 28.16 per cent of the total outlay being spent till January. 

Operators of foreign container feeder vessels are allegedly facing unusual delays in obtaining the waiver certificate or failing to secure the document they need before loading cargoes to and from Bangladesh.

The forced shipment of empty containers from the yard of the Chattogram port is finally coming to an end, a positive development for foreign shipping liners as it would allow them to avoid the financial losses they have been incurring for the last six years.

Feeder-vessels operator HR Lines Limited, a subsidiary of Karnaphuli Group, has expanded its carrying capacity by adding two more container ships to its fleet.

A vessel with 10 metres draught berthed at a jetty of the Chattogram port for the first time yesterday, a major leap forward as the movement of larger ships is expected to cut costs and save time.