Dwaipayan Barua

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.

The maiden tax amnesty offered by the government to bring back laundered money home has seemed to have brought no result since none secured the facility in the first six months of the current fiscal year.

Ending 2022 with negative growth in container throughput, the Chattogram port had almost half of its container jetties vacant as the new year rolled in. 

KDS Logistics has retained its spot as the top private inland container depot (ICD) in terms of the total volume of export and import cargo handled for a fifth consecutive year in 2022. 

The state coffers were robbed of Tk 258 crore for 26 counts of irregularities by the Chattogram Port Authority between fiscal 2017-18 and 2019-20, found the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

Annual container handling at the country’s premier sea port of Chattogram decreased 2.54 per cent year-on-year in the just concluded calendar year of 2022 owing to a downward trend in foreign trade. 

The Chittagong port may post a negative growth in container throughput in 2022 compared to a year earlier due to the decline in container handling for the slowdown in Bangladesh’s international trade.

The finance division has strictly asked ministries and divisions not to demand any additional money beyond the amount allocated this year.

The eight fast track projects being implemented by the government are seeing mixed progress with four having made significant progress as of November this year while the rest may not see timely completion.

Though inflation continued to undergo a downward trend for a third consecutive month in November, non-food inflation in rural areas entered into double digits last month for the first time in recent times. 

Water transport workers have gone on a strike demanding a pay hike, suspending unloading of imported goods at the Chattogram port’s outer anchorage and their subsequent transportation across the country since the early hours of yesterday.

Business leaders in Bangladesh hope the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, being built beneath Karnaphuli river in Chattogram, will help expand the port city on both sides of the waterway as per the “One City, Two Towns” concept derived from China’s Shanghai.

Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Mahbubul Alam said the country’s first underwater tunnel below the Karnaphuli river will bring a new dimension to connectivity between the southeastern region and the rest of the country.

Water-vessel workers are set to observe an indefinite, countrywide work abstention from the end of this month to press home their demand for hiking minimum wage.

Movement of import and export-laden containers through the Chattogram port in October was lower both year-on-year and compared to that in the previous two months, reflecting a gradual slowdown in foreign trade amidst global economic downtrends.