P&I coverage vital to activate Pangaon ICT

Shipping executives Sunday said protection and indemnity (P&I) coverage is now the key requirement for making the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) functional.
The terminal, built at a cost of Tk 1.54 billion at South Keraniganj off the capital, remained almost non-functional over the past three months after inauguration in November.
The shipping executives said these at a views exchanging meeting with the stakeholders concerned.
Shipping Secretary Syed Manjurul Islam presided over the meeting, organised by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan joined the meeting as the chief guest, while state minister for energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid was present as the special guest.
P&I insurance is a form of marine insurance, provided by a P&I club. A P&I club is a mutual insurance association that provides coverage to its members - ship owners, ship operators or demise charterers.
Unlike a marine insurance company, which is answerable to its shareholders, a P&I club is only responsible to its members.
However, the shipping executives in the meeting said two vessels, procured by the CPA to provide services on the Chittagong-Pangaon route, lack P&I coverage. They noted that this coverage is vital for attracting the mainline operators (MLOs) to use the new route.
Before this type of coverage, a full inspection by the international authorities concerned should be done, they opined.
Md Jahangir Alam, deputy general manager (operation) of the France-based CMA-CGM, said: "The vessels should have been brought under the P&I coverage for making the terminal functional." He said as long as the international standard is not met by the CPA, no MLOs will use the new route.
CPA chairman Rear Admiral Nizam Uddin Ahmed said the authority will take necessary steps for having the coverage.
"We'll do it immediately," the CPA chairman told the meeting.
However, shipping sources told the FE that getting approval of the P&I coverage is not an easy task. "All aspects will be reviewed before recommending for P&I membership," said an official at a foreign shipping company.  
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) chairman Dr Md Shamsuddoha Khandker, BGMEA senior vice president S A Mannan Kochi, BKMEA first vice president Md Hatem, Bangladesh Container Shipping Association vice president Md Shamiul Hoque, customs clearing and forwarding agents association president in Dhaka Sheikh Farid Uddin also spoke at the meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Pangaon ICT on the bank of Buriganga at Pangaon in South Keraniganj on November 09.
But, only few hundreds of containers came to the terminal from Chittagong since then.
The CPA and the BIWTA jointly built the terminal, aimed at easing pressure of cargo movement on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.
Its storage capacity is 3,500 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) at a time, and annual container handling capacity is 116,000 TEUs. The capacity will be gradually raised to 160,000 TEUs.
Two vessels - Pangaon Express and Pangaon Success - are now available for carrying containerized cargoes. Another vessel named Pangaon Vision will join the fleet shortly. Each vessel can carry 128 containers TEUs.