Hopper dredger to be procured to make Mongla harbour navigable

FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: March 14, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government is going to procure a hopper dredger, for the first time, for keeping the draft at the deep water of the Mongla Port harbour navigable with the financial support of China, officials said Friday.
The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has requested the Economic Relations Division (ERD) to mobilise necessary funds for the dredger purchase, Hawlader Zakir Hossain, a director of the Mongla Port Authority told the FE.
It has also requested the Planning Commission (PC) to approve the preliminary development project proposal (PDPP) for the dredger.
The Mongla Port authority under the MoS has prepared a PDPP at a cost of Tk 3.20 billion for seeking the fund from China.
"We have had cutter suction dredgers, but this time we need hopper dredger. We are trying to mobilise funds from external sources. Then the proposed dredger would be purchased for a big boost for the Mongla Port operations," said Mr Hossain.
Trailing suction hopper dredger is a ship that has a full sailing capacity used to maintain navigable waterways, deepening the maritime canals that are threatened to become silted, to construct new land elsewhere or to replace sand eroded by storms or wave action on the beaches.
A MoS official said: "The hopper dredger is needed for the Mongla Port to keep the draft of the 130-kilometre channel navigable. We have already discussed with the Chinese government to get its financial support to procure the dredger."
The hopper dredger would dredge silt, clay and other substances in the deep channel of the port where vessels are anchored, he added.
The hopper dredger can keep clay, silt and other substances inside it during dredging. Later, it could unload the clay and other substances in any coastal areas from the deep channel.
Bigger vessels from different countries cannot enter the port due to its lower draft in the Pashur Channel, connected with the Bay of Bengal in the Sundarbans areas of Bangladesh.
To conduct maintenance dredging, the Mongla Port Authority has already procured one cutter suction dredger and another one will arrive in April 2015, officials said.
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