Govt plans to increase cargo handling facilities of Mongla port
Friday, 13 May 2011
Talha Bin Habib
The government has planned to increase cargo handling facilities of the Mongla port to facilitate exports of raw jute, jute goods and frozen shrimp through the port, officials said. For this purpose, dredging and 24-hour automation services will start soon in the port. Besides, modern equipment will also be installed in near future. "We have decided to enhance the cargo handling facilities of the port considering the potentials for using of the port. We have finalised the tender process for dredging of the port," Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan told the FE after a meeting with the users of the port at his ministry Thursday. During July-April of the current fiscal, the port handled about 2.316 million (23.16 lakh) tonnes of cargo. The amount of cargo handling was about 1.649 million (16.49 lakh) tonnes during the 2009-10 fiscal which was about 0.930 million (9.30 lakh) tonnes in 2008-09. In 2007-08 fiscal about 0.723 million (7.23 lakh) tonnes of goods were handled through the port. "Insufficient number of empty containers hampers export of goods through the port. If the port has required number of empty containers then the export of raw jute and jute products and other goods will increase substantially through Mongla port," Chairman of Shipping Agents Association of Bangladesh Anwarul Haque Tarik told the FE. "We will sit with the Mongla Port Authority soon to discuss how to increase the number of empty containers in the port," he added. The meeting discussed making arrangement of required number of empty containers to facilitate timely shipment of jute goods through the port. It also decided to conduct about 10.5 kilometres dredging of the port so that ocean-going ships could easily anchor at the port. Two more straddle carriers (each of 40 tonnes capacity), two forklift trucks (five tonnes capacity) to handle empty containers, four forklifts truck (three tonnes capacity) and two terminal tractors (each of 50 tonnes capacity) will be added to the existing cargo handling equipment. A shed will also be built in the port area to stock jute goods during the rainy season. Secretary, Textiles and Jute Ministry, Md Ashraful Moqbul, Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation TD Mitra, Chairman of Mongla Port Authority Commodore M AK Azad and Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA) Md Mahfuzul Haque, among others, were present in the meeting.
The government has planned to increase cargo handling facilities of the Mongla port to facilitate exports of raw jute, jute goods and frozen shrimp through the port, officials said. For this purpose, dredging and 24-hour automation services will start soon in the port. Besides, modern equipment will also be installed in near future. "We have decided to enhance the cargo handling facilities of the port considering the potentials for using of the port. We have finalised the tender process for dredging of the port," Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan told the FE after a meeting with the users of the port at his ministry Thursday. During July-April of the current fiscal, the port handled about 2.316 million (23.16 lakh) tonnes of cargo. The amount of cargo handling was about 1.649 million (16.49 lakh) tonnes during the 2009-10 fiscal which was about 0.930 million (9.30 lakh) tonnes in 2008-09. In 2007-08 fiscal about 0.723 million (7.23 lakh) tonnes of goods were handled through the port. "Insufficient number of empty containers hampers export of goods through the port. If the port has required number of empty containers then the export of raw jute and jute products and other goods will increase substantially through Mongla port," Chairman of Shipping Agents Association of Bangladesh Anwarul Haque Tarik told the FE. "We will sit with the Mongla Port Authority soon to discuss how to increase the number of empty containers in the port," he added. The meeting discussed making arrangement of required number of empty containers to facilitate timely shipment of jute goods through the port. It also decided to conduct about 10.5 kilometres dredging of the port so that ocean-going ships could easily anchor at the port. Two more straddle carriers (each of 40 tonnes capacity), two forklift trucks (five tonnes capacity) to handle empty containers, four forklifts truck (three tonnes capacity) and two terminal tractors (each of 50 tonnes capacity) will be added to the existing cargo handling equipment. A shed will also be built in the port area to stock jute goods during the rainy season. Secretary, Textiles and Jute Ministry, Md Ashraful Moqbul, Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation TD Mitra, Chairman of Mongla Port Authority Commodore M AK Azad and Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA) Md Mahfuzul Haque, among others, were present in the meeting.