Box terminal and other projects are in fast track mode in Chtg Port

Chittagong: Work of the Tk 500 million (50 crore) project for increasing the container storage and handling capacity in the Chittagong Port is progressing fast.

'Around 9,300 TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units) of containers could be kept at the port park area after completion of the project,' Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) AMM Shahadat Hossain told a meeting at Bandar Bhaban with leaders of the Port Users Forum (PUF) Monday.

CPA sources said that another seven months would be required to complete the project.

According to a press release of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), the PUF delegation led by CCCI President and PUF Chairman Saifuzzaman Chowdhury discussed with the CPA Chairman the issue of congestion surcharge and some matters related to the export-import trade.

The CPA Chairman told the PUF leaders that the authority was trying its best to improve the service standard and productivity of the port to keep pace with the growth of export-import trade.
He said the situation in the port in terms of state of service to the users and sudden deadlock in the port operation by trade union organisations had improved significantly in past few years and the port was now also enhanced with modern equipment.

The CCCI President told the meeting that the port users were incurring huge loss due to imposition of congestion surcharge by the Singapore based feeder operators on Bangladesh bound containers on the ground of 'acute vessel congestion' at the Chittagong port.

CPA Members Ahmed Abul Kashem, Shafayet Hossain Khan, Kamrul Hasan and Consultant of the Chittagong Port Trade Facilitation Project Raymond A Lawler were present at the meeting.

The PUF delegation included Senior Vice Chairman Tareq Anis Ahmed, Bangladesh Master Stevedores Association Chairman AHM Manjur Alam, EC Member Tarek Kamal and Hasan Mahmud Chowdhury, Chittagong Customs Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association President AKM Akhter Hossain and General Secretary Altaf Hossain Chowdhury.