Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Chattogram port clocked 3.1 per cent year-on-year growth in container handling in the just-concluded fiscal year, which highlighted the growing foreign trade of Bangladesh, official data showed.
The premier port in the country handled 30,97,236 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in the fiscal year 2020-21, up from 30,04,142 TEUs a year ago, according to data from the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).
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The figure was found by calculating the containers handled by the port, the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal and the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot, said CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk.
The port registered 2.92 per cent growth in 2019-20 and 3.28 per cent in 2018-19. It handled 30.04 lakh TEUs in FY20 and 28.08 lakh TEUs in FY19.
Commercial items, machinery, commodities, chemicals, and industrial raw materials, except for those used in cement and ceramics manufacturing, are imported through containers. All export-oriented goods are solely carried through containers.
Cargo handling by the port was up 11.98 per cent year-on-year.
The port handled 11.37 crore tonnes of cargo in FY21 against 10.16 crore tonnes the previous year.
Vessel movement through the port also rose: 4,062 vessels plied to and from the port in FY21, up from 3,764 in the preceding year.
CPA Chairman M Shahjahan said, “The port was not shut for a single day even during the pandemic. The round-the-clock operation has helped us handle more than three million TEUs in the year.”
He thanked the port staff and workers and other stakeholders such as berth operators, ship-handling operators, importers, exporters, shipping agents, clearing and forwarding agents, freight forwarders, and customs officials for working together to achieve the growth.
The number of gantry cranes has increased from four to 14 and the storage capacity on the yards has also increased, said Shahjahan.
“These capacity-enhancing measures helped the port raise the productivity.”
Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam lauded the handling of such a vast number of containers during the pandemic.
“It indicates to the country’s growing foreign trade. It is also a wake-up call for enhancing the capacity of the port to meet the rising demand,” he said, emphasising speedy completion of the ongoing expansion projects of the port.
Shahjahan said the construction of the Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) would be complete this year.
Once completed, the PCT, which will be equipped with three jetties and a dolphin jetty, will handle half a million TEUs of containers every year.
“We are also planning to create more yard spaces by making some existing places usable,” Shahjahan said.
