CBRP launches movement against Saif Powertec

CHITTAGONG, Aug 20: Chittagong Port is likely to face work suspension by a section of workers under the banner of Chattagram Bandar Raksha Parishad protesting what they termed Saif Powertec Ltd’s monopoly in cargo handling.
They alleged that Saif Powertec held the port hostage by handling its 70 per cent of cargoes.
The workers launched a movement and went miking in front of the head office of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) on Wednesday as part of their indefinite agitation programme seeking scrapping of the contract between the CPA and Saif Powertec.
The agitation may turn critical, if the workers resort to suspension of cargo handling in what would be the second phase of movement, if their six-point demand is not met by the port authority.
Chattagram Bandar Raksha Parishad (Chittagong Port Protection Council) or the CBRP is a forum recently formed by the workers of the CPA and backed by ruling Awami League leader and former city mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. Chowdhury is the president of Chittagong city Awami League.
Twelve berth operators in the port's GCB (general cargo berths) have also sided with the Awami League leader and the CBRP in a bid to take a stake in the cargo handling activities in the port's biggest cargo handling installation New Mooring Container Terminal (NMCT).
Chittagong Port had been experiencing a quiet and calm atmosphere for the last several years after it had seen workers' agitation and suspension of
cargo handling activities for weeks in the aftermath of disbanding dock workers' management board of the CPA and scrapping of seven workers' organizations in the name of CBA (collective bargaining agent) by the last caretaker government in 2007.
Leader of the CBRP Ahad Chowdhury said the first phase of their movement started through publicity campaign to oust the Saif Powertec from all activities in the port 'because the firm resorted to widespread irregularities, corruption and held the port hostage'.
He said that the Saif Powertec breached contract with the CPA as it did not start cargo handling in the Kamalapur ICD (inland container depot) in Dhaka even after 18 months of signing the contract with the CPA.
"The Port Authority has neither scrapped the contract, nor blacklisted the Saif Powertec in the port, nor claimed compensation for its failure to start work in the ICD," Ahad Chowdhury said.
Ahad said that eight organisations and 12 berth operators along with different former stevedoring organisations have submitted six-point demand to Port Authority and Shipping Minister to stop offering the cargo handling work in the NMCT.
Awami League leader Mohiuddin Chowdhury also sought intervention of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Shipping Minister in separate letters last week and urged them not to offer the cargo handling activity to the three berths of the NMCT. Mohiuddin Chowdhury had also requested the concerned authorities in the government to take steps so that the port authority can procure equipment worth Tk 12 billion from the CPA fund and run the NMCT by itself to save employment of the port workers.
Saif Powertec authority ruled out the allegations as fabricated and baseless and said they had been conducting the cargo handling activities in the port abiding by all rules of the CPA and contesting through the tender procedure and contract at the port's three berths of CCT (Chittagong Container Terminal) and two berths of NMCT for many years.
The authority in a notice published in the newspapers in reply to allegations of the CBRP said that their efficient cargo handling in the CCT and NMCT had been acclaimed by the international container magazine and the Saif Powertec had been awarded the ISO 9001: 2008 certificate from the DNV (Det Norske Veritus).
The authority has said that productivity has increased as the annual average container handling in the CCT by the Saif Powertec had gone up to 308,619 containers from 185,382 containers during the period from 2007 to 2013.
The ships' average stay time in the port has also been reduced to 2 to 2.5 days after use of gantry cranes (QGC) by the Saif Powertec from 6 to 7 days in cargo handling by the port authority itself in the CCT since 2007, it has said.