Suspension of box handling looms large due to fuel crisis

Chittagong: The ongoing diesel crisis has hit the country's main seaport of Chittagong and other private run off-dock stations and the operations of loading-unloading of containers.


Sources said the operations of container handling equipment both at Chittagong Port and the private inland depots might have to be suspended because of the fuel crisis.


Chittagong Port handles around 2000 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) per day through modern hi-tech equipment like folk lift, tyred gantry cranes and so forth.


Officials of private container handling company at Chittagong Port and other private inland container depots expressed their fear that the container handling operations at the port might be suspended if the fuel crisis continued.


ASM Abu Nayam, Managing Director of K & T Logistics said his stock of diesel is dwindling fast and he might be forced to close down his operations if the crisis persists.


'My company which handles on an average 120 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) daily may face closure due to the shortage of fuel in port city as of my equipment operates on diesel,' he added.


One senior official at GATCO, a private container handling organisation at the Chittagong Port, said they have been facing serious troubles due non-availability of diesel in the port city over last couple of days.


An official at the traffic department of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) said the port management itself is also in a panic like situation as its own stock of fuel is dwindling fast. Chittagong port usually buy bulk from the subsidiary organisations of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).


Refuting such allegation, Director (Electric and Mechanic) Md Jamshed Hasan said the CPA has stock of fuel and it is yet to experience any troubles in running its equipment.