36 hrs strike puts Chittagong Port operations in quandary

Chittagong: Ship and cargo congestion at Chittagong Port aggravated with the dislocation of handling and delivery of goods during the 36-hour hartal that ended Wednesday evening, port and shipping sources said.


Over 60 vessels, 20 of those container ships, queued up at the port channel and jetties while the number of containers stockpiled at the port sheds crossed 17,000 units against the capacity of 12,500, they said.


‘Though we are trying hard to overcome the congestion, suspension of container delivery due to the hartal deteriorated the situation,’ the member (operation) of the Chittagong Port Authority, Kamrul Hossain, said.


The CPA Deputy Traffic Manager said that the congestion deepened mainly due to suspension of delivery of containers during the non-stop 36-hour hartal.


‘If we could ensure the delivery of containers during the past two days, the congestion situation would surely have improved,’ he said, adding 'unloading of containers slowed down due to space crisis caused by the suspension of delivery.’


A spokesman of feeder vessel operators, Swapan Ghosh, said the turnaround time of the ships at the port again crossed an average of eight days though it marked little improvement before the hartal. ‘We don’t see any chance of improvement as the congestion has become acute due to the hartal.’


Against the backdrop of persisting congestion of vessels and containers at the port, vessel operators slapped congestion surcharge on Chittagong port-bound containers from June 5. The operators are supposed to review the situation after one month.