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Port of Chittagong tops container growth.

Published : 29 Jul 2017, 22:06:20
Dev of infrastructure, jetties underway to expedite Ctg port's operation

Initiatives have already been taken to develop infrastructure, jetties, yard and manpower and collect equipment to expedite the operations of Chittagong port, says the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman.

Chittagong port, which handles 92 per cent of the country’s total export-import, operates 24 hours a day, said CPA chief Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal.

Steps have already been taken to repair the damaged gantry, he said, adding short term, midterm and long term plans are interlinked for sustainable development of Chittagong port.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Chittagong Port: Current Status and Way Forward', held at Lakeshore Hotel in Dhaka on Saturday.

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) organised the seminar. DCCI President Abul Kasem Khan delivered the welcome address and DCCI director Asif A Chowdhury presented the key note paper.
source – BSS
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.c...ies-underway-to-expedite-Ctg-port's-operation
 
Published : 29 Jul 2017,
Tender soon for Privatising Chittagong port operation
CPA chair says as businesses plead, place plans for making prime seaport functional round the clock
FE Report

An international tender will be called for privatising Chittagong Port operation, businesses were told Saturday as they made such suggestion and placed plans for upgrading the country's prime seaport.

The business-community seniors said Bangladesh is lagging behind in terms of the cost of doing business. The country will never be able to fulfill the target of $50 billion export by 2021 unless the port is developed apace with other competitor countries.

They also said there must be coordinated efforts by all stakeholders for the functioning of Chittagong port efficiently as port alone cannot function on its own.

"The operational part of Chittagong should be handed over to private sector for efficient operation. Private sectors run many prominent ports across the world," said Mahbubur Rahman, President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB), at a roundtable.

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) organised the discussion titled 'Chittagong Port: Current Status and

Way Forward' in a city hotel.
The ICC,B President, Mr Mahbubur Rahman, said targets of middle-income country and $50 billion export by 2021 should not be a mere political slogan, the government must do whatever need to do to get to the goals.

He feels the premier seaport of the country would never be able deliver what businesses want if the government and the businesses do not find alternatives, including development of other seaports, using waterways for goods transporting.

Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal spoke at the programme as chief guest while DCCI president Abul Kasem Khan delivered the welcome address and Director Asif A Chowdhury presented a keynote.

Renowned business leaders, exporters and importers, representatives of shipping agents, C&F, Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) also joined the event.

The DCCI president said increasing cost of freight, incoming vessel-waiting-time delay for four days, extended unloading and loading time up to 12 days, inefficiencies in transportation and handling containers are the key impediments which reduce the port competitiveness.

Mr Khan proposed expediting the development of planned container jetties, Potenga Port and Bay Terminal for smooth loading-unloading operations.

In his keynote presentation, Director of DCCI Asif A Chowdhury said turnaround time in Chittagong port reached 5-7 days whereas it is 1.38 days in Singapore port, 0.96 days in Shanghai port, 0.68 days in Busan port in South Korea, 4.18 days in Kolkata port and 1.7 days in Colombo port in Sri Lanka.

He identified key problems facing Chittagong port, including mismatch between handling capacity and growing demand, customs-related clearance complexities, lack of contingency plan for rush season like festive time and monsoon, poor road connectivity, time gap between shifting break (labour/equipment operator), forced sailing , importers' delay in emptying the containers, limited night sailing, lack of coordination among port-service-providing agencies.

He said the impediments and congestion in the Chittagong Port cause disruption to supply chains, leading to rise in consumer goods prices for which suffers entire economy: it increases lead time, fuels the cost of doing business, hampers cross-border trade and inflow of investment, spurs food and non -food inflation.

He stressed the need for implementing some short-term plans including proper implementation of terminal management with smooth entry and exit, full-time traffic-free road connectivity between on-dock and off-dock, strictly following cut-off time for export loading, quick execution of auction process as per existing rules, quick service of the scanner in the gate and allowing all lighter ships having 100Mt to 150Mt capacity to be directly routed back to small river ports across the country.

In reply to businesses' demand, CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal said the government is planning to hand over the operational part to private sector gradually. International tender will be called in time.

He said the port cannot run alone. All parties concerned have to act together and in a coordinated way.

"If port unloads goods but banks are not there or covered vans are not there to transport, how the port would run. All stakeholders are connected to one another," he told the meet.

"Private participation like landlord system will be introduced. Laldia will be developed under PPP and Bay terminal under landlord system."

The chairman said no issue is justified for charging surcharge and extra-freight. The issue will be looked into and further consultation will be carried with relevant agencies.

He said the implementation of development plans will be started in 2019 with the building of Patenga container terminal with three container jetties and one oil-container jetty.

Former DCCI presidents Asif Ibrahim, Hossain Khaled, and Rashed Maksud Khan, member Admin and Planning of the Chittagong Port Authority Mohammad Zafar Alam, former Vice President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Mohammad Hatem, Senior Vice President Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan, and member of the International Finance Corporation Masrur Reaz, among others, spoke at the round table.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.c...oon-for-privatising-Chittagong-port-operation
 
Chittagong city from Dry dock, Patenga to Mohora.

A very good helicopter view of the whole Chattogram city.A number of industrial plants can be seen here.At 3:20 Chattogram's tallest building Aziz court building can be seen and at 4:28 Radisson Blue Bay Chittagong can be seen as well as the stadium. I can see a very beautiful skyline dotted with beautiful buildings. Only lacking in this beautiful city are lack of wide roads and entertainment options. But the city as a whole looks quite wealthy by sub continental standard.A lot of green space too. Easily Chattogram is the best city in Bangladesh. Sea, river, mountain, forest, lake, urban sprawl all came togather nicely in this city.:tup:
@Bilal9 @UKBengali @Ashik Mahmud @Centaur @Black_cats @Species @shourov323 @Cycle Macson @Michael Corleone @Hasan89 @BDforever @TopCat @Avicenna
 
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This is not a surprise, Chittagong has numerous container jetties in the port and won most efficient container processing award for all of Asia as far back as 2011 (see below). They really had no choice, the container port was working overtime at 110% capacity and still is, due to booming garments exports, that's when the ports at Payra was planned. Since then another one near Mirsarai (Sitakunda) has also been in the planning phase to be set up. So, with Matarbari and Mongla ports - that makes five ocean-going ports for a country the size of Wisconsin. :-)

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2011...port-most-efficient-among-17-asian-countries/

Chittagong port also ranks 71st among 100 busiest container ports at 2.56 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) handled in 2017.

https://www.joc.com/port-news/asian...pe-chittagong-congestion-relief_20180521.html

Compared to this, Chennai Port handled 15,49,457 TEUs in financial year 2017-18 as against 14,94,831 TEUs handled in same period of last year.

Kolkata port handled 3,87,552 TEUs in April to September 2017-18 against 3,81,653 TEUs in April to September 2016-17—registering 1.55 per cent growth.

Vizag handled a 'record' 3.67 lakh TEUs during 2016-17 as against 2.93 lakh TEUs in 2015-16, a growth of 25%. Vizag now handles a lot of Nepalese container imports at the expense of Kolkata, which is avoided by Nepalese importers due to reasons of inefficiency.

Export of containers from Paradip is minimal (around 2~4000 TEUs every year).

Did I miss any major ones on the Indian East Coast?

Oh yes - Tuticorin handled 7 lakh TEUs in 2017.

Of course most of the well equipped larger ports in India are on the Western Coast.

So, turns out, one port in Bangladesh handled almost as many if not more containers coming in and out than entire collection of Indian East Coast ports, and when the two other container ports in Bangladesh (Mongla and Payra) gears up by 2020 (Payra will be even larger than New Mooring at Chittagong), what then? :-)
 
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Maersk has designed a special class of container carrier ('Chittagong Max' class) based on the Zhejiang 2700 low draft design. First vessel (lead ship) was called MCC Chittagong.

Welcome the Largest Ship to Call Chittagong

MCC welcomed the container vessel on her maiden call at the Port of Chittagong.

mcc_chittagong01.jpg


MCC Chittagong is the second ship to be built to the new “Zhejiang 2700” design – first of which is the M/V MCC Ningbo. Popularly called “Chittagong Max”, these ships are specially designed to fit Chittagong port’s unique requirements.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, an event was organized onboard the brand-new vessel to highlight its capacity and advantages.

The guest of honor was the Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal, BSP. He was accompanied by key members of the CPA, including the Member of Harbour & Marine Commodore Shaheen Rahman (G), BN, Member of Engineering Commodore Zulfiqur Aziz (E), the Director of Security Lt Col. Md. Abdul Gaffar and Director of Traffic Mr. Golam Sarwar. Representatives of many other key functions such as the Harbour Master, Terminal Mangers, and Berth Operators also took the opportunity to get to know this versatile new vessel.

mcc_chittagong04.jpg


The event was organized by the Bangladesh Operations team, led by Country Operations Manager Sarwar Alam Chowdhury and Vessel Operations Manager Ajit Podder Lai. Guests were welcomed onboard the vessel by MCC’s Chief Operations Officer Mr. Clive van Onselen, as well as the Master of MCC Chittagong Captain Grzegorz Chilewski who was enthusiastic about sharing information about the vessel.

mcc_chittagong03.jpg


The CPA Chairman gave a few words expressing his appreciation at the Group’s continued dedication to serving Chittagong. A cake-cutting ceremony also took place, and a plaque of appreciation was presented to the guest of honor.

mcc_chittagong02.jpg


In the speech given by Mr. van Onselen, he re-affirmed the Maersk Group’s vision for this trade.

“We are committed to bringing best-in-class vessels, so that we can deliver best-in-class service to facilitate Bangladesh's trade to the world,” he said.
 
Rail-mounted crane boosts hope for Chittagong congestion relief
Bangladesh Special Correspondent | May 21, 2018 12:43PM EDT
  • Chittagong%20Port%20long%20blue%20vessel.jpg%202_0.jpg
Congestion at the port is at its worst during the May-September, trans-Pacific, peak shipping season, but officials hope the additional capacity and introduction of round-the-clock operations will result in less congestion this year. (Above: Chittagong Port.) Photo credit: Shutterstock.com.

Officials are hopeful that cargo flow and efficiency will increase at Chittagong Port now that Bangladesh’s largest seaport has received the first rail-mounted gantry crane in its 130-year history.

The crane will be able to load and unload containers on and off two daily trains that run from Chittagong to the Kamalapur Inland Container Terminal in Dhaka, the capital, in four hours instead of eight to nine hours now, officials said.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan inaugurated the rail-mounted gantry crane on May 17, along with nine other new assets that included rubber-tired gantry cranes, a log handler, and mobile cranes. “We are solving the equipment crisis at Chittagong port gradually,” he said, adding that he hoped that the arrival of additional new equipment in August would further curb congestion.

Chittagong received 51 new equipment units last year, and will introduce 35 more cranes and other equipment over the summer in hopes of further improving handling capacity. The port handled 245,324 TEU in March, a record high for any month. It handled 2.56 million TEU in 2017, up 10.3 percent from 2.34 million TEU in 2016.

Officials hope rail-mounted crane reduces May-September congestion
Congestion at the port is at its worst during the May-September, trans-Pacific, peak shipping season, but officials hope the additional capacity and introduction of round-the-clock operations will result in less congestion this year.

Shipper representatives are hopeful, too. “This port is [the] heart of Bangladesh’s economy. If the port functions, the economy will grow,” Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Chittagong Port Users’ Forum, said at the inaugural ceremony. “With launching of [a] rail-mounted gantry crane, the port is touching a new milestone.”

Further, with congestion a continual problem on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, shippers are keen to move their cargo by train, which, while cheaper than truck, suffers from inadequate locomotive capacity and is restricted to a single track. As a result, the transit time over the roughly 265-kilometer (165-mile) route is about 14 hours. That will be slashed by about half when an ongoing project to build a double-track is done, perhaps as early as 2020, according to Mainul Islam, deputy director of traffic transportation at Bangladesh Railway.

The railroad carried about 72,000 TEU from Chittagong in 2017, up from 69,000 TEU a year earlier.

“If the number of voyages and capacity of train service from Chittagong port increases, we will think about bringing more rail-mounted gantry [cranes] in the future,” he said.
 
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