Container handling by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) hit an all-time high in August last on an increased volume of 'project-related cargoes', official data said.
The Chittagong port, the largest seaport of Bangladesh by capacity, handles around 1.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargoes, almost 90 per cent of all external trade.
Container handling increased to 154,750 TEUs at the port in August last, surpassing the previous record set in May last by nearly 400 units.
Port officials said the high growth in container handling was mainly driven by project-related cargoes like equipment required for construction of bridges and power plants.
However, other traditional export and import items remained almost stable.
The port made a report on the rise of cargoes in recent months.
Port officials said favourable political environment helped businessmen procure more finished goods and industrial raw materials now than a year back.
An official working at the port's traffic wing said shifting of scaffolding cargoes from China to Bangladesh was fuelling the growth in cargo volumes at the Chittagong port.
Scaffolding cargoes are very much visible on the port premises and they mostly belong to the China Major Engineering Co.
Shipping circles said growing confidence of businessmen in the absence of political chaos was boosting cargoes.
They also said the container handling had, actually, been mounting steadily since January last.
The containerised cargoes rose by more than 9.0 per cent over the last eight months to August this year over its corresponding period in 2013, according to port statistics.
To cope with the increased volume of cargoes, international shipping firms have launched at least four new vessels on the Chittagong-Singapore route on an ad-hoc basis.
Apart from this, a new vessel named Irraboti Express, owned by Sinwa, a Singapore-based shipping company, launched its voyages to cash in on the growing cargoes.
Captain AS Chowdhury, head of a Singapore-based shipping firm, told the FE: "We've already added a new vessel to our fleet to cope with the rising cargoes."
He hinted that cargo handling would grow further as many construction materials woulds be imported for the Padma bridge.
Mr Chowdhury said August-September period is usually a lean season for cargo handling. "But this time is exceptional. We're getting adequate volume of cargoes."
Shipping executives said they were now getting a ready-products meant for Europe and the USA.
"In my view, garment exporters want to avoid long Eid vacation. For this reason they are in a hurry to send the cargoes," Mr Chowdhury added.
As regards reduction in the values of letters of credit (L/Cs), both port and shipping circles said its impact would be felt in October.
However, the CPA sources said they were capable of handling an increased volume of cargoes as their spaces have surged many time.
The CPA has now the capacity to handle 2.6 million TEUs of containers a year including 1.5 million TEUs at the New Mooring Container Terminal against the capacity of 1.9 million earlier.
The CPA can handle more than 37,000 containers at a time.
Container handling at the port began in 1976 on a limited scale.
Currently, nearly 40 vessels each having the capacity of around 1,000 TEUs are plying on the Chittagong-Singapore and Chittagong-Colombo routes.
jasimharoon@yahoo.com
