The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has taken up short-, medium- and long-term strategic master plans to ensure faster operations and make the port user-friendly, CPA chairman Commodore Julfiqur Aziz announced yesterday.

He was speaking on the occasion of the 131st anniversary of the Chittagong Port.  

Commodore Aziz said a vessel’s average turnaround time was 2.58 days till March 2018 and the port could handle 3,500 vessels in a year. When the average turnaround time would be reduced to 24–36 hours, it would be able to easily handle 6,000 vessels in a year, he added.

“My focus is on four areas—vessel congestion, road congestion, container congestion and faster port operations,” he said.  

Kamrul Amin, member (finance), Commodore Shahin Rahaman, member (harbour and marine), Capt. Khandaker Aktar Hossain, member engineer, secretary Omar Faruk, deputy secretary Azizul Moula of the CPA and others were present at the press briefing.  

“Goods are currently delivered in open containers at the port and a lot of trucks and covered vans come and create traffic snarls. A lot of containers stay in the port and the containers unloading goods from vessels have to remain at the port. We will build a large yard at the Bay Terminal area. The containers will then be shifted from the Truck Terminal to the Bay Terminal by trailers or trains. If we can complete the delivery from the Bay Terminal, there will be no congestion in the Chittagong port,” said the CPA chairman.

“Then no trucks will come to the port area and the roads (leading to the port) would be free of trucks and there will be no congestion of containers at the port,” CPA chairman said. He also said the Chittagong port would be turned into a user-friendly one.

“Our main challenge lies in increasing cargo, container and vessel handling. We have taken short-, medium- and long-term plans on the basis of the Strategic Master Plan of Vision 2021,” Commodore Aziz said.

“Container handling has increased 9.36 per cent from 2016 to 2017 while cargo handling went up by 10.97 per cent. In 2016, a total of 3,014 vessels came to the port while in 2017, the number was 3,370,” said the CPA chairman in a written statement.

“In accordance with the government’s directive, we have taken an initiative to fully run the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) by collecting all handling equipment.

In the meantime, nine rubber-tyre gantry cranes, four straddle carriers, five container movers, and one rail-mounted gantry crane have been added to the fleet of the port.

Three more straddle carriers will arrive soon,” said the CPA chairman.

The growth of cargo and vessel handling has been increasing every year. Even though this is a challenge, the port is ready to face it, he said.

“Initiatives have been taken to construct Patenga Container Terminal, Laldia Terminal and Bay Terminal as part of the development of the port infrastructure,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Army has started work on the Patenga Terminal. The construction will end by late next year.

EA