THE increasing number of ship arrivals at Chattogram port amid the economic recovery from Covid fallouts has led to the pile-up of containers rising to 90 per cent of the yard capacity
THE increasing number of ship arrivals at Chattogram port amid the economic recovery from Covid fallouts has led to the pile-up of containers rising to 90 per cent of the yard capacity. The congestion is disrupting regular activities of the country's primer seaport, said officials, as it needs at least 15 per cent of yard space to perform day-to-day works.
The yard, having a capacity of keeping 49,018 TEU, currently accommodates 43,261 units, as of last Monday, which was 37,000 just two months ago, reports The Business Standard, Bangladesh.
'The container pile-up keeps growing as the number of anchored ships increases. Besides, importers' reluctance to get their goods fast, particularly on weekends, was another reason,' said Omar Faruque, secretary of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).
According to the CPA, 4,209 ships anchored at the port in 2021, while it was only 3,728 in the previous year. The busiest port handled 2.84 million TEU in 2020, which increased to 3.21 million the next year.
However, the port authorities could ease the container congestion in the mid last year by doubling container storing rents for a short time. But it did not continue the penalty in the face of protest from businesspeople.
The container congestion continued to grow again since late last year.
Considering the ground reality, the CPA, in a letter to key trade bodies requested importers to get their goods released also on holidays, apart from regular working days.
'The port remains open all the days. But the container delivery usually goes down to one-third on Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to importers' reluctance to come to port while many fail to process documents on Sunday, the week opening day,' said Mr Faruque.
The CPA secretary said they made such requests also in August and September last year, but got little response from the importers.
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