Chittagong port efficiency hits new high in January
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Efficiency at the Chittagong port hit a new high in January when cargoes from ships arriving in the terminal have been unloaded and loaded in a record time, officials said Tuesday.
The turnaround time of a ship in the country's largest port was a record 2.84 days in January, which was 2.92 days in December 2007.
Turnaround time, which starts with the arrival of vessels at the outer anchorage and ends at their sail-out, is the key benchmark for efficiency of port operation.
"Arrival of increased number of food-laden ships in January was of the main reason for the record turnaround time in January," said senior port official Enamul Karim.
"Food importers took speedy delivery of their items, allowing the ships to unload their shipments in quickest time," he added.
The turnaround time at the port averaged 11.65 days in January in 2007 due to the political uncertainty and series of strikes in the port.
It dropped to 8.74 days in March and 4.84 days in April, immediately after the military-backed caretaker government started implementing major reforms at the port.
The port, which operates country's around 90 per cent external trade worth US$ 30 billion annually, handled a total of 84027 containers in January against 82214 in December 2007.
The number of calls at the port by the feeder vessels increased to a record 89 times in January, against 85 in last December.
Efficiency at the Chittagong port hit a new high in January when cargoes from ships arriving in the terminal have been unloaded and loaded in a record time, officials said Tuesday.
The turnaround time of a ship in the country's largest port was a record 2.84 days in January, which was 2.92 days in December 2007.
Turnaround time, which starts with the arrival of vessels at the outer anchorage and ends at their sail-out, is the key benchmark for efficiency of port operation.
"Arrival of increased number of food-laden ships in January was of the main reason for the record turnaround time in January," said senior port official Enamul Karim.
"Food importers took speedy delivery of their items, allowing the ships to unload their shipments in quickest time," he added.
The turnaround time at the port averaged 11.65 days in January in 2007 due to the political uncertainty and series of strikes in the port.
It dropped to 8.74 days in March and 4.84 days in April, immediately after the military-backed caretaker government started implementing major reforms at the port.
The port, which operates country's around 90 per cent external trade worth US$ 30 billion annually, handled a total of 84027 containers in January against 82214 in December 2007.
The number of calls at the port by the feeder vessels increased to a record 89 times in January, against 85 in last December.