Ctg Port efficiency hits record high

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Jasim Uddin Haroon
Efficiency at the Chittagong Port hit a record high in December last year after the average stay-time of a ship fell less than three days for the first time in the port's history, officials said Saturday.
The stay-time, better known as turnaround time, of a ship was 2.92 days in December, 2007, Yahia Syed, Member Operation and Harbour of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), told FE.
"It's the first time in history that the turnaround time went below three days. It's the result of our concerted effort to increase efficiency at the Chittagong port," he added.
The turnaround time, which begins from the arrival of vessels at the outer anchorage and ends at their sail-out, is the key benchmark for efficiency of a port.
Ships do not stay more than 48 hours in any of the top-graded ports in the world.
Chittagong is Bangladesh's biggest port and the country's main economic lifeline. It handles some 90 per cent of the country's 30 billion dollars external trade.
Syed said port efficiency showed marked improvement since the emergency was imposed and a military-backed government took over in January last year.
The turnaround time averaged 11.65 days in January last year due to the political uncertainty and series of strikes in the port, the port authorities said.
It dropped to 8.74 days in March and 4.84 days in April, immediately after the army-led joint forces started implementing major reforms at the port, they added.
The average stay-time dropped sharply to 3.10 days in August, but shot up again to 3.48 days in September.
Port officials said reduction of stay time of the vessels that carry fewer containers, providing adequate space for unloading cargoes and regular monitoring contributed to the sharp improvement of efficiency at the port.
"We no longer allow the ships to waste time at the port. Since November 15, the ships that carry fewer containers are allowed only 36 hours at the port," Syed said.
"We have also set up a number of sheds and back-up facilities on the port yard, offering more accommodation spaces for thousands of additional containers," he added.
According to the port authorities, some 24,000 containers can now stay at the port-yard at a time. It was around 21,000 before the sheds were built up.
Shipping operators welcomed an increase in efficiency at the port, but they said the turnaround came down because of some 'harsh' measures by the authorities.
"The CPA (Chittagong Port Authority) has been forcing the ships to leave the port carrying less than the targetted export cargoes," alleged Captain Mohammad Rafique, country representative of the leading feeder operator PIL.
"It's true that the measure has raised efficiency level at the port. But we don't think it is commercially viable. Also it violates some trade rules," he added.
Another leading feeder operator said that the turnaround time fell in December following frequent forced sail-out of vessels.
"We want natural functioning at the port, but the CPA is working against it," Rafique added.