With a foreign operator managing the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (PICT) since this February, the Dhaka-based river terminal is attaining record-breaking success in handling boxes.
During the last five months of operation, Swiss company Medlog SA, a concern of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Group, handled some 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, equal to the terminal's total annual container handling by other operators in the past.
The success in attracting a higher number of users to the terminal is attributed to comparatively lower tariffs and faster services.
Businesses and officials say the PICT is now turning into an attractive cargo port for Dhaka-based exporters and importers who want to do business by avoiding the congested Dhaka-Chattogram highway.
ATM Anisul Millat, managing director at Medlog Bangladesh, tells The Financial Express his company is providing end-to-end services, thus getting an increased number of terminal users.
He expects that by the end of this year, the number of handled containers will double compared to the past.
Mr Millat says this April, for the first time in its history, the terminal started carrying export containers and "has been getting a huge response".
"We are working with some renowned buyers and mainline operators," he says.
He also says Medlog is carrying export cargoes by barges at almost half the road transport cost, which is one of the reasons for exporters to use the terminal.
Medlog brings export cargoes to the terminal by sending trucks after they are stuffed in boxes on the factory premises.
Then they are sent to the Chittagong port by barges to be loaded onto larger ships towards hub ports in Singapore, Colombo, Port Klang, and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP).
"We are providing last-mile and first-mile services to customers," says Mr Millat.
According to him, carrying each 20-foot import container from Chattogram to Dhaka by waterway costs $327, including port charges.
In case of a 40-foot container, it is $560.
For a 20-foot export box, Medlog charges $170 from Dhaka to Chattogram.
The charges are $280 for a 40-foot box.
On the other hand, from Chattogram to Dhaka, the carrying cost of a 20-foot import box by road stands at $440, and a 40-foot box at $670.
The carrying cost of a 20-foot export box by road from Dhaka to Chattogram is $440.
For a 40-foot box, it is $570.
"Our handling of export boxes is rising," says Mr Millat, adding that until now, PICT's handling consists of 70 per cent import boxes and 30 per cent export and empty boxes together.
Medlog has renovated the existing container freight station at the terminal to enhance export cargo handling.
Also, work is underway to build a warehouse for cotton imports, and there is a plan to build cold storage to support vegetable and fruit exports.
"We have plans to handle refrigerated cargoes here as well," says Mr Millat.
Moin Uddin, a director of a concern of Sheltech Group, says they have started using the terminal to send cargoes to Europe considering the low distance of it compared to the Chittagong port and cargo security on the road.
"The Pangaon terminal is operated by a private company, and we get quick services by paying less," he says, adding that faster services make the terminal attractive to users.
Abul Kalam Azad, a Dhaka-based exporter, says since the operator has started providing low-cost and faster services, his company will be interested in using the once highly underused terminal to send cargoes.
"We plan to use the terminal as it is located very close to our factories," he adds.
syful-islam@outlook.com