Dwaipayan Barua

Chattogram port reels from disruptions, vessel queues lengthen

Container transport to and from Chattogram port was suspended for nearly 12 hours since yesterday morning as drivers and helpers of prime mover trailers stopped work to vote in their union's biennial executive committee election.

This will likely have a detrimental effect on the country's exports, alongside prices of imported products

Inland container depots (ICDs) have announced a sharp increase in charges for handling export cargoes and empty containers by as much as 60 percent starting September 1, triggering concerns among exporters already feeling the pinch from the impending reciprocal tariff by the United States.

Seventy-six years ago, on July 16, 1949, the first tea auction in the region was held in Chattogram. That event marked the birth of what would become the nerve centre of Bangladesh’s tea industry, the Chittagong Tea Auction Centre, which still handles the overwhelming majority of the country’s tea trade.

Owners of Chattogram-based readymade garment factories, many of which do business with buyers in the United States, are worried about a US tariff hike to 35 percent set to take effect on August 1.

Major customs houses across Bangladesh, including that in Chattogram, have been facing delays in processing exports and imports for days now due to recurring slowdowns in the server that handles the records.

Unloading of imported goods from mother vessels at the Chittagong Port has been facing disruptions for three days as smaller vessels have failed to go near the outer anchorage to unload the containers amid incessant rain and a turbulent sea..Especially since Monday, the rough weather, whic

Chittagong Dry Dock Limited (CDDL), Bangladesh's sole dry dock currently operating under the Bangladesh Navy, started running the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) of the Chattogram port yesterday, retaining the human resources engaged by the previous operator.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is preparing to take over the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) for now, as the current contract with private operator Saif Powertec Ltd is set to expire on July 6.

CPA floats tender for equipment as it awaits ministry's nod to operate terminal

The yards at the Chattogram port, which are designated for storing containers loaded with imports, exceeded their capacity yesterday as daily handovers to consignees did not gain pace during the Eid-ul-Azha holiday over the past week.

Containers packed with imports are starting to pile up at the Chattogram port due to a drastic drop in the delivery of goods, as factories and vehicles are yet to resume running in full swing amidst the Eid-ul-Azha holidays.

The debate over whether to lease out the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at Chittagong Port to a foreign operator is intensifying, with political parties, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and left-leaning groups, uniting in opposition.

Picture a crowded harbour where the salty seabreeze carries whispers of far-off lands, where merchants of all creed and caste haggle over silks and spices, and where towering ships of all varieties – Chinese junks, Arab dhows, and Portuguese carracks – sway gently in the waters of the Bay of Bengal.

The US government’s recent announcement to hike the tariff on Bangladeshi goods by an additional 37 percent has already begun affecting the country’s readymade garment (RMG) industry, according to a leading denim exporter.

Concerns are increasingly being voiced over the Chattogram port’s largest terminal, New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), being leased out to a foreign operator, as the interim government furthers the initiative undertaken by the previous Awami League government.

Constructed at a cost of Tk 2,000 crore, the terminal was completed by the Chittagong Port Authority in 2007

After a long wait, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) finally signed a deal yesterday with a Japanese joint venture to construct a terminal for a deep-sea port at Cox’s Bazar’s Matarbari, some 350 kilometres southeast of capital Dhaka.

The long-awaited journey towards Bangladesh’s first deep-sea port at Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar is finally approaching a major milestone.