Strike brings Ctg port to a standstill
The Chattogram port's overall operations came to a standstill in the last one and a half days because of the countrywide transport strike, stoking fears it could cause fresh container congestion at the country's premier port.
Around 1,200 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export-bound containers are normally transported to the port everyday from the 16 private inland container depots (ICDs) located in the city and in its outskirts.
On the other hand, about 2,000 TEUs of import containers are carried to the ICDs from the port.
But no such movement of containers took place to and fro from the ICDs since the strike began on Sunday morning till the filing of the report at 5:30pm yesterday.
Scheduled sailing of two vessels -- TR Aramis and A Idefix -- from the port was cancelled yesterday after they failed to receive export containers, sources said.
Golam Md Sarwarul Islam, terminal manager of Chittagong Port Authority, said they completed the delivery procedure of 86 TEUs of import containers on Sunday but could not release them as the vehicles carrying the containers were stranded inside the port because of the strike.
Six berth operators with their own trailers usually transport unloaded import containers from anchored vessels' hook points to port yards but the operators stopped working since Sunday morning.
Tanveer Hussain, chief operating officer of Saif Powertech Ltd that operates five jetties under the Chittagong Container Terminal and the New Mooring Container Terminal, said such work abstention inside the port has never happened in the last one decade.
Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary of the Bangladesh Inland Containers Depots Association, said the private ICDs normally receive 3,500 trailers loaded with export goods from different parts of the country everyday but no single vehicle could reach them during the period.
Port users fear of a fresh container congestion at the port due to the stalemate.
Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the disruption will badly harm the country's imports and exports.
He urged all to keep cargo transportation outside the purview of any movement to maintain the smooth operation of the import and export business.
