Foreign co's inept container management irks users

Foreign port-operator Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) earns the ire of port users for alleged "inefficiency and mismanagement" in operation of the Patenga container terminal of the Chittagong seaport.
Recently, Chittagong Customs Agents Association submitted a memo to the chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) listing a number of operational problems the terminal has been facing for long.
The letter, signed by association general secretary Showkat Ali, mentions that the company--Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) Bangladesh--was appointed to operate the PCT in hope of accelerating export-import activities, reducing transportation costs and time, and eliminating ship congestion at the country's prime port.
However, it is observed that the LCL-container un-stuffing and FCL-container-delivery activities are inordinately delayed at the terminal owing to "inefficiency, mismanagement, and infrastructural limitations" in operational activities.
"This is causing extreme sufferings to importers and C&F (clearing and forwarding) agents," the letter reads.
The association has further said severe container congestion is being caused at the terminal for keeping higher number of boxes than the capacity in absence of adequate storage space there.

As a result, it says, the LCL-container un-stuffing and FCL-container-delivery activities are getting excessively delayed.
The letter mentions that owing to the delays, the imported raw materials for export-oriented industries are not reaching factories on time, thus hampering production.
"If containers are unloaded from ships according to the yard capacity, delivery of goods on time will be possible," the association suggests as remedy.
Also, the association has alleged that lack of adequate and high-quality equipment has been causing delays in unloading of imports.
It suggests measures to add adequate number of modern equipment to conduct faster delivery operations.
The C&F agents also take exception to employing incompetent workforce at the terminal by the Saudi-based multinational.

"The cargoes are often damaged due to employing unskilled operators at the terminal," reads the letter that urges arranging necessary training for them and monitoring their performances regularly.
Also, the association further alleges that loading and unloading of cargoes at the terminal are being delayed since most of the workers lack skill. In this case, it is necessary to hire a sufficient number of skilled workers and take regular training measures.
The letter also mentions that 15-percent value-added tax (VAT) is being realised on labour wages at the RSGT though no such fees are being charged at the Chittagong Port.
The association has requested the port authority to take immediate measures to stop collecting VAT on labour wages.
"In this situation, I humbly request your kind intervention and appropriate measures to quickly and effectively resolve the problems to make operational activities at the PCT effective, efficient, and disciplined," the letter mentions the demand.
Contacted, former general secretary of the association Kazi Mahmud Imam Bilu also echoed the same. "The RSGT is operating the terminal with inefficient employees amid equipment shortage."
"They are carrying out export-import, and un-stuffing of cargoes in a small space, so severe mismanagements prevails there," he told the Financial Express. Mr Bilu also thinks the labourers working there are unskilled, not fit for suck tasks.
However, Syed Aref Sarwar Khurshed, Head of Commercial and Public Affairs at RSGT Bangladesh company, told the Financial Express that he had discussion with the leaders of the Chittagong Customs Agents Association a couple of days back about remedies.
"We have resolved all the problems gradually," he said, adding: "In reality the problems do not exist."
Mr Khurshed said the RSGT has been trying to provide "best services possible".
The government appointed RSGT to operate the Patenga container terminal (PCT) as first foreign port operator in the country. The terminal, having daily handling capacity of 369 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), now handles below 200 TEUs a day, reportedly for equipment shortage, unskilled manpower and mismanagement.
As a result, the Chittagong Port Authority is not getting expected revenue for the national exchequer while the users are not getting services as expected from the foreign port operator.
syful-islam@outlook.com