Feeder operators set to slap congestion surcharge at port

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Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
Feeder vessel operators are set to impose congestion surcharge at Chittagong port in view of the longer period of stay at the port leading to higher trade costs.
The period of overstay of a ship increased by 17 hours on an average last month compared to previous month.
A Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) official said the government will oppose the vessel operators' decision as it believes the prevailing situation is not so bad that warrants imposition of surcharge.
General Manager of K-Line, a global shipping lines and a main line operator (MLO), Shahed Sarwar, said the surcharge will be imposed any day.
"The feeder vessel operators have already informed the MLOs in Singapore that due to congestion in Chittagong Port they are incurring loss and they will have to realise $100 surcharge per container," he said.
"They wanted to impose the surcharge from May 21 but on the basis of assurance by MLO that the port situation will improve they deferred the date and now they have informed us to impose the surcharge," he added.
Feeder vessels ferry cargoes to and from Chittagong and Singapore and the cargoes are loaded or unloaded by MLOs mother vessels (big ship).
The feeder vessel operators reasoned that poor efficiency and other operational drawbacks at Chittagong Port have contributed to increased stay of vessels, Mr Sarwar said.
The period of stay increased by 17 hours last month but it is not logical to realise such surcharge, said a CPA official.
"When the first surcharge was imposed in 2006, the ships had to wait over 84 hours in outer anchorage," he said. This does not include the period of stay at port, he added.
The CPA official said that vessels with faulty gears or cranes (grade II vessels) is one of the major causes behind the increasing port-stay time.
"Last month 68 vessels berthed at the port and out of those, 10 to 12 vessels had defective cranes," he said.
He, however, admitted that due to taking over of the port operation by the CPA the operations have been hampered.
"CPA lacks experience in handling the port operation but even then we are working hard to maintain operations as smoothly as possible," the CPA official said.
If the feeder vessel operators impose surcharge on the plea of current situation, the government will oppose it and do whatever necessary to rescind the decision, he added.
The Chittagong port, the main seaport of the country, handles about 90 per cent of the total trade of Bangladesh and has accomplished nearly 9 per cent container handling growth in the last calendar year following rise in import volume.
The port handled 1,161,469 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2009 against 1,069,999 TEUs, port statistics show.