Bangladesh realtor, James Sutcliffe to build nation's first inland port
BANGLADESH's first inland port will be established as a joint venture to operate a 300,000-TEU container capacity terminal in Nareayanganj serving Dhaka.

BANGLADESH's first inland port will be established as a joint venture
between James Sutcliffe's Port Evolution Management and local realtor
Rupayan Port & Logistics Services to operate Port-Evo develop and
operate a 300,000-TEU container capacity terminal in Nareayanganj
serving Dhaka.
Mr Sutcliffe has managed the takeovers at Boston Docks and PD Ports on
the UK east coast as well as founding DCT Gdansk in 2001.
Mr Suttcliffe, Evo-Port's CEO, said the Dhaka development "is a first,
as we will be barging the containers down to Chittagong and Mongla ports and then reloading to deep-sea vessels." and that barges will handle 50 containers each, operating shuttle services to ports some 250
kilometres from Dhaka through river systems.
Separate from the a 15-year equity investment and management contract,
Port-Evo also expects to work with the Bangladesh government on
construction of a container terminal at the southern port of Mongla.
Rupayan Group, a local real estate giant, received Bangladeshi
government permission in December 2009 to establish a river-based
container terminal near Dhaka to transit goods between the southeast
Bangladesh port of Chittagong and the capital, reported Lloyd's Loading
List.
Port-Evo will have a 49 per cent stake and raise US$60 million on the
debt market for the $100 million project cost, said a Port-Evo
consultant, Shipwrights Resources managing director Mahboob Ahmed.
"Everyone opts for bank finance for funding but we have gone for equity finance and Port-Evo is our partner of choice," he said.
Rupayan has put in US$22 million which kicked off construction in
September on 27 acres on the bank of the Shitalakhya River, reported
Lloyd's Loading List. The terminal will be equipped with an online
container tracking system, customs and other regulatory agencies,
agricultural inspection and quarantine areas.
The facility will work primarily as a supply chain inland feeder hub for Chittagong and Mongla, serving Dhaka-based importers and exporters.
The Dhaka-Chittagong corridor contains some 32 per cent of Bangladesh's
population and generates 50 per cent of the country's GDP and 85 per
cent of its foreign trade.
"The terminal will start operations early next year as the quay wall
piling has already been started by Rupayan," Mr Suttcliffe said, adding
that the Mongla port project "will complete our plans to develop a new
logistics chain for Bangladesh imports and exports".
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