Revitalising the management of Chittagong Port
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
M. A. Kamal
WHAT has been going on in the Chittagong Port and the media reports about it lead one to believe that various parties involved in the activities of the port are engaged in mud-slinging and dictating terms how the port should be managed. They are showing the shoes to be worn but do not know where nails in the shoes are which will pinch the wearer.
In the past, meetings for bringing in improvements in the performance of the port were held in port's premises. The meetings were convened by the head of the port. The minister-in-charge and ministry's Secretary rarely participated in such meetings. Now meetings are held in the Prime Minister's Office.
Deciding priorities
A quagmire seems to have been developed centring the issues of ship's turn-around-time and discharge of cargo in and from the port. The quagmire might have been such that the port's administration has got stuck up at some points. Such a situation develops when a service organization is to serve multi-type service-seekers within a short time but does not make a list of priorities of meeting their demands.
When posted as Chairman of the CPA in 1991 in the aftermath of the devastating cyclone of April 29, 1991, I made a list of jobs I would be required to do placing them in order of priorities. At that time, the salvage of twenty vessels sunk in and around the navigational channel of the river Karnaphully was given the top most priority, because the more a vessel lies sunken in a river, the greater becomes the chance of occurrence of silting up of the river. Officials assigned to the work of salvation further prepared a list of vessels to be salvaged placing at the top the vessel the presence of which in the river posed to be the most dangerous.
Obtaining an extension of the completion time of the project, the World Bank-funded Back-Up Facilities which could not be completed even after three extensions, was treated as an item of second priority in the first list.
Third in the list of the priority was dealing with the staff and workers of the port who were agitating for the realization of their demands.
The top management of the port took a firm decision to proceed with the completion of the listed jobs in order of priorities. Side comments and wishful proposals were brushed aside even after requests were received from the top echelons of the administration.
Judging the efficiency of CPA
News reports say that due to lifting of the embargo on engagement of berth operators from the private sector, turn-around time for ships to enter in and exit from the port will get reduced to two days. Shipping companies find this an improvement in the operation of the port. As sluggishness is rooted in our work habits, the reduction in turn-around time may not be the only indicator for judging the port's efficiency. A certain amount of sluggishness in other areas of operation of the port exists because of the ownership and related organizational pattern of the port.
Our port users who visit ports in Singapore, Hong Kong, Rotterdam. etc. have reasons to be enchanted with what they see in those places. The CPA is an organization where shortage of space for movement of mechanical equipment from one place to another is acute. Handling cargo requires a high amount of physical strength. Bangladeshis being of short stature and of weak health cannot give that amount of physical labour as can be given by even other people of the sub-continent. The CPA's jetties are close to each other, length of ships and their draughts limit how many ships of what size can take berth in the jetties.
With these limitations, a rational idea will be to keep expectation of users of the port within a permissible limit. Cross blaming in which we are engaged in keeps problems where they are now.
Past events
I like to draw the attention of the present Chairman of the CPA and others concerned to some past events. The discussion on the events may help in tiding over the present crisis that the port is in.
At the outset, I want to emphasize that in an organization like the port, where the need for high technology and automat city is not required and where thousands and thousands of containers and tons of cargo are to be handled, its working force is its greatest resource to keep its wheels moving on.
The demand for better services from the port can be made if resources for it, man and material, are made available. A project named Development of Manpower and Training undertaken in Chittagong Port in 1989 on the dictates of World Bank achieved no success.
The years 1991 and 1992 were very crucial for the CPA. Events described below are of that period when I was Chairman of the CPA:
Event 1: During the period 1991-1992 employees of the port worked as a team in bringing construction of the project -- Back-Up Facilities costing TK. 1.25 billion (Tk. 125 crore) -- to completion four months ahead of revised (4th time) completion time that was given by World Bank.
Event 2: Work of salvage of twenty vessels sunk in the river Karnaphully by a Dutch contractor was completed forty-nine days ahead of schedule, making the port fully operational.
But the awarding of the contract for the salvage was not smooth. Some tried to have a bite in the bread. The CPA management had to fight out the obstacles created by some persons with the blessings of influence quarters.
After tender evaluation and recommendation of CPA's Board were complete, a self-declared local agent of the second lowest bidder in the tender invitation for the work offered a revised price which was lower than that of the one whose offer was found as the lowest against tender invitation. CPA Chairman was asked to start negotiation with the fake local agent. The Chairman refused to do so. On further insistence, a special board meeting of the CPA had to be convened within twelve hours in the conference room of the Ministry of Shipping to decide whether a discussion with that fake agent on the revised offer submitted by him could be held. The board's decision was the same as the one the Chairman had earlier given. The request of the fake local agent was raised in the meeting of the National Purchase Committee. Late Saifur Rahman, Chairman of the committee, summarily rejected the request terming it as irregular and saved the port's channel from silting up by approving the proposal submitted by the CPA in the regular way for the appointment of a salvage contractor.
A second danger appeared after the work order was issued to the salvage contractor. A shipping company, whose some ships were sunk by the cyclone, obtained an injunction from the court on the CPA not to allow the salvage contractor to salvage their ships. They said that they would do the work themselves. They were a party who initially requested the Ministry of Shipping to get their ships salvaged. The salvage contractor informed the CPA that they would have to be paid their fees and charges for twenty ships as agreed with them, even if one or more ships were to be excluded from the list of twenty ships to be salvaged.
The CPA filed an appeal with the higher court to vacate the injunction obtained by the above shipping company. The court vacated the injunction.
Event 3: Employees of the port stood firm behind the port's Chairman with an unfailing support when the Chairman took a stand not to purchase a floating crane at a cost of about Tk.1.0 billion (Tk. 100 crore) under a supplier's credit offered by Japan. A group of rent-seekers from three political parties exerted a heavy pressure on the Chairman to make preparations for the purchase of the crane. One of the rent-seekers used to sit in the Secretariat Buildings at Abdul Ghani Road, another in a building on the other side of the road and a third one was a room-mate of the Chairman in his school days.
The person on the post of Chairman was transferred later from the port. Thereafter, when the then Planning Minister, Late Zahir Uddin Khan, visited Chittagong he was asked by journalists if that person had been transferred from the post of Chairman because he had refused to buy a floating crane for the port. The Minister could not say "That was not the reason", but said "Floating crane will not be purchased for the port'.
Event 4: After the cyclone of April 29, 1991 and a request made to World Bank to grant one more extension (4th) of time for the completion of the project, Back-Up Facilities, the Bank's Senior Vice President, In-Charge of Infrastructure Division came to Chittagong from Washington to see the state in which the port was following the cyclone and assess the capacity of the port's administration to complete balance of the work of the project under their finance at a time when the administration would remain busy with cyclone rehabilitation work.
The Senior Vice President of the World Bank was taken to the jetty area, project's site and other establishments by the CPA Chairman. The guest found cleanness, neatness and discipline all around.
At the end, he was taken to the conference room of the port where high officials of the port were waiting for a discussion. Some of the officials were introduced to the guest. The Chairman then said, "Mr. Senior Vice President, there has been a change in the top administration of the Port and my colleagues in the new administration will give our best of efforts to complete the project if a time of extension is granted".
Then came the time for the guest to say something. What he said was: "After what I have seen in your jetty area today, I am fully convinced that the people of Bangladesh can do things of great wonders…I will make a recommendation for extension of completion time".
The CPA wanted a time up to end June, 1992 but the World Bank granted up to end October, 1992. The project was completed within June, 1992.
Event 5: Before my joining as Chairman, five trade unions of CPA stood on a platform and raised the slogan: "Our 35-point demand will have to be acceded to and implemented. Else, the port will get shut down."
Negotiations with the representatives of the staff and workers were started and carried on almost every day to appease the agitating workers and staff and refrain them from shutting down operations of the ort. During a period of about six months of negotiations, the port's operations were stopped two or three times, but for a short duration. Through the discussions a message was given to the staff and workers that the management of CPA was sympathetic about their genuine grievances, but needed approval of the higher authorities to accede to the demands.
It was the first quarter of the year 1992 when Member (Finance) told me, the Chairman, one day that the General Secretary of the trade union, which commanded eighty per cent of the voters in the election of bargaining agent, visited his office to say that the Chairman should be informed that the main demands of the trade unions had been met. They would not demand the fulfilment of the other demands but would work hand in hand with the top management. He sought help of the Member (Finance) to meet me for saying the same thing to me also. He met me and repeated the statement.
Event 6: In 1991 it became a practice with some persons to get some ships calling on at the port arrested by the order of the court on ground of loss caused by the ships to their properties. A melee started with ships getting arrested and putting responsibility on the CPA to arrange their security. Soon jetties and moorings of the port got almost fully occupied by non-working vessels, leaving very limited facilities for working vessels. It was known from secret sources that owners of some of the arrested ships wanted to sell those out and looked for an easy approach to make display of the ships to the prospective buyers for which they needed places in the jetty area. The management of CPA understood the game. 1, as Chairman of the CPA, brought this to the notice of Secretary, Shipping Ministry and requested him to seek help of the Office of Attorney General for a bail-out. The Secretary took up the matter with the appropriate authorities. Soon, all the embargoes imposed were vacated.
Earlier, the CPA learned a lesson from a non-working vessel, named Fentus Fortune, how one of that type could cause havoc in a port. A buyer was searched for the ship. It was allowed an anchorage in the river Karnaphully before the cyclone of April 29, 1991. On the night of that fateful day, the ship got dislodged from its anchorage by the gust of cyclonic wind and force of water surge, hit the port's dredger, the Al-Amanat, and sank it in the river, then rushed to the new bridge constructed over the Karnaphuly in the upper stream and hit a spanner of the bridge to fall in the river.
Notices were served on shipping companies/agents to take their ships out of the jetty area soon. The order was complied with.
Event 7: There is not a second organization in the country where political parties try to exert so much of their influence through participation in trade union activities as it happens in the Chittagong Port. The party in state power generally gives one message to the head of the organization which is, "We have placed you in the position you are in. You will accede to our demands." I was reminded of it.
During my tenure in the CPA, the demands from trade unions, especially one, became so pressing that one day in a meeting where the Minister-in-Charge and some of officials of the ministry were present, the Secretary of Ministry of Shipping said, "If you do not give the Chairman a minimum of support, it is not possible for him to manage the port properly."
Tiding over the
difficulties
In order to tide over the difficulties the CPA is now in
l The management of the CPA should be allowed freedom in performing its duties.
l After a matter is decided by the CPA, any one in the government should not ask the CPA to defer action or change the course of action decided. News report says that this has been done in the case of tender invitation for appointing berth operators. However, the government can ask for information in case of any complaint received by it.
l Moral support should be given to the head of the organization and his team in their efforts to do good things and take risks to save the organization from loss or disrepute.
l The management of the CPA should stand firm on decisions it takes judiciously. A shift in the stand will open a flood gate for accommodating interests of vested quarters.
l The present Chairman of the CPA should gird up his loins and ward off all odds.
I recollect with gratitude the support I received from the staff and officers of the Chittagong Port Authority during my tenure. I hope, they will give the same to their present Chairman. Sometimes I recollect the watchful eyes of the Secretary, Ministry of Shipping that made me work lawfully and judiciously.
M. A. Kamal FCA, FCMA is a former Member (Finance) and Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority
WHAT has been going on in the Chittagong Port and the media reports about it lead one to believe that various parties involved in the activities of the port are engaged in mud-slinging and dictating terms how the port should be managed. They are showing the shoes to be worn but do not know where nails in the shoes are which will pinch the wearer.
In the past, meetings for bringing in improvements in the performance of the port were held in port's premises. The meetings were convened by the head of the port. The minister-in-charge and ministry's Secretary rarely participated in such meetings. Now meetings are held in the Prime Minister's Office.
Deciding priorities
A quagmire seems to have been developed centring the issues of ship's turn-around-time and discharge of cargo in and from the port. The quagmire might have been such that the port's administration has got stuck up at some points. Such a situation develops when a service organization is to serve multi-type service-seekers within a short time but does not make a list of priorities of meeting their demands.
When posted as Chairman of the CPA in 1991 in the aftermath of the devastating cyclone of April 29, 1991, I made a list of jobs I would be required to do placing them in order of priorities. At that time, the salvage of twenty vessels sunk in and around the navigational channel of the river Karnaphully was given the top most priority, because the more a vessel lies sunken in a river, the greater becomes the chance of occurrence of silting up of the river. Officials assigned to the work of salvation further prepared a list of vessels to be salvaged placing at the top the vessel the presence of which in the river posed to be the most dangerous.
Obtaining an extension of the completion time of the project, the World Bank-funded Back-Up Facilities which could not be completed even after three extensions, was treated as an item of second priority in the first list.
Third in the list of the priority was dealing with the staff and workers of the port who were agitating for the realization of their demands.
The top management of the port took a firm decision to proceed with the completion of the listed jobs in order of priorities. Side comments and wishful proposals were brushed aside even after requests were received from the top echelons of the administration.
Judging the efficiency of CPA
News reports say that due to lifting of the embargo on engagement of berth operators from the private sector, turn-around time for ships to enter in and exit from the port will get reduced to two days. Shipping companies find this an improvement in the operation of the port. As sluggishness is rooted in our work habits, the reduction in turn-around time may not be the only indicator for judging the port's efficiency. A certain amount of sluggishness in other areas of operation of the port exists because of the ownership and related organizational pattern of the port.
Our port users who visit ports in Singapore, Hong Kong, Rotterdam. etc. have reasons to be enchanted with what they see in those places. The CPA is an organization where shortage of space for movement of mechanical equipment from one place to another is acute. Handling cargo requires a high amount of physical strength. Bangladeshis being of short stature and of weak health cannot give that amount of physical labour as can be given by even other people of the sub-continent. The CPA's jetties are close to each other, length of ships and their draughts limit how many ships of what size can take berth in the jetties.
With these limitations, a rational idea will be to keep expectation of users of the port within a permissible limit. Cross blaming in which we are engaged in keeps problems where they are now.
Past events
I like to draw the attention of the present Chairman of the CPA and others concerned to some past events. The discussion on the events may help in tiding over the present crisis that the port is in.
At the outset, I want to emphasize that in an organization like the port, where the need for high technology and automat city is not required and where thousands and thousands of containers and tons of cargo are to be handled, its working force is its greatest resource to keep its wheels moving on.
The demand for better services from the port can be made if resources for it, man and material, are made available. A project named Development of Manpower and Training undertaken in Chittagong Port in 1989 on the dictates of World Bank achieved no success.
The years 1991 and 1992 were very crucial for the CPA. Events described below are of that period when I was Chairman of the CPA:
Event 1: During the period 1991-1992 employees of the port worked as a team in bringing construction of the project -- Back-Up Facilities costing TK. 1.25 billion (Tk. 125 crore) -- to completion four months ahead of revised (4th time) completion time that was given by World Bank.
Event 2: Work of salvage of twenty vessels sunk in the river Karnaphully by a Dutch contractor was completed forty-nine days ahead of schedule, making the port fully operational.
But the awarding of the contract for the salvage was not smooth. Some tried to have a bite in the bread. The CPA management had to fight out the obstacles created by some persons with the blessings of influence quarters.
After tender evaluation and recommendation of CPA's Board were complete, a self-declared local agent of the second lowest bidder in the tender invitation for the work offered a revised price which was lower than that of the one whose offer was found as the lowest against tender invitation. CPA Chairman was asked to start negotiation with the fake local agent. The Chairman refused to do so. On further insistence, a special board meeting of the CPA had to be convened within twelve hours in the conference room of the Ministry of Shipping to decide whether a discussion with that fake agent on the revised offer submitted by him could be held. The board's decision was the same as the one the Chairman had earlier given. The request of the fake local agent was raised in the meeting of the National Purchase Committee. Late Saifur Rahman, Chairman of the committee, summarily rejected the request terming it as irregular and saved the port's channel from silting up by approving the proposal submitted by the CPA in the regular way for the appointment of a salvage contractor.
A second danger appeared after the work order was issued to the salvage contractor. A shipping company, whose some ships were sunk by the cyclone, obtained an injunction from the court on the CPA not to allow the salvage contractor to salvage their ships. They said that they would do the work themselves. They were a party who initially requested the Ministry of Shipping to get their ships salvaged. The salvage contractor informed the CPA that they would have to be paid their fees and charges for twenty ships as agreed with them, even if one or more ships were to be excluded from the list of twenty ships to be salvaged.
The CPA filed an appeal with the higher court to vacate the injunction obtained by the above shipping company. The court vacated the injunction.
Event 3: Employees of the port stood firm behind the port's Chairman with an unfailing support when the Chairman took a stand not to purchase a floating crane at a cost of about Tk.1.0 billion (Tk. 100 crore) under a supplier's credit offered by Japan. A group of rent-seekers from three political parties exerted a heavy pressure on the Chairman to make preparations for the purchase of the crane. One of the rent-seekers used to sit in the Secretariat Buildings at Abdul Ghani Road, another in a building on the other side of the road and a third one was a room-mate of the Chairman in his school days.
The person on the post of Chairman was transferred later from the port. Thereafter, when the then Planning Minister, Late Zahir Uddin Khan, visited Chittagong he was asked by journalists if that person had been transferred from the post of Chairman because he had refused to buy a floating crane for the port. The Minister could not say "That was not the reason", but said "Floating crane will not be purchased for the port'.
Event 4: After the cyclone of April 29, 1991 and a request made to World Bank to grant one more extension (4th) of time for the completion of the project, Back-Up Facilities, the Bank's Senior Vice President, In-Charge of Infrastructure Division came to Chittagong from Washington to see the state in which the port was following the cyclone and assess the capacity of the port's administration to complete balance of the work of the project under their finance at a time when the administration would remain busy with cyclone rehabilitation work.
The Senior Vice President of the World Bank was taken to the jetty area, project's site and other establishments by the CPA Chairman. The guest found cleanness, neatness and discipline all around.
At the end, he was taken to the conference room of the port where high officials of the port were waiting for a discussion. Some of the officials were introduced to the guest. The Chairman then said, "Mr. Senior Vice President, there has been a change in the top administration of the Port and my colleagues in the new administration will give our best of efforts to complete the project if a time of extension is granted".
Then came the time for the guest to say something. What he said was: "After what I have seen in your jetty area today, I am fully convinced that the people of Bangladesh can do things of great wonders…I will make a recommendation for extension of completion time".
The CPA wanted a time up to end June, 1992 but the World Bank granted up to end October, 1992. The project was completed within June, 1992.
Event 5: Before my joining as Chairman, five trade unions of CPA stood on a platform and raised the slogan: "Our 35-point demand will have to be acceded to and implemented. Else, the port will get shut down."
Negotiations with the representatives of the staff and workers were started and carried on almost every day to appease the agitating workers and staff and refrain them from shutting down operations of the ort. During a period of about six months of negotiations, the port's operations were stopped two or three times, but for a short duration. Through the discussions a message was given to the staff and workers that the management of CPA was sympathetic about their genuine grievances, but needed approval of the higher authorities to accede to the demands.
It was the first quarter of the year 1992 when Member (Finance) told me, the Chairman, one day that the General Secretary of the trade union, which commanded eighty per cent of the voters in the election of bargaining agent, visited his office to say that the Chairman should be informed that the main demands of the trade unions had been met. They would not demand the fulfilment of the other demands but would work hand in hand with the top management. He sought help of the Member (Finance) to meet me for saying the same thing to me also. He met me and repeated the statement.
Event 6: In 1991 it became a practice with some persons to get some ships calling on at the port arrested by the order of the court on ground of loss caused by the ships to their properties. A melee started with ships getting arrested and putting responsibility on the CPA to arrange their security. Soon jetties and moorings of the port got almost fully occupied by non-working vessels, leaving very limited facilities for working vessels. It was known from secret sources that owners of some of the arrested ships wanted to sell those out and looked for an easy approach to make display of the ships to the prospective buyers for which they needed places in the jetty area. The management of CPA understood the game. 1, as Chairman of the CPA, brought this to the notice of Secretary, Shipping Ministry and requested him to seek help of the Office of Attorney General for a bail-out. The Secretary took up the matter with the appropriate authorities. Soon, all the embargoes imposed were vacated.
Earlier, the CPA learned a lesson from a non-working vessel, named Fentus Fortune, how one of that type could cause havoc in a port. A buyer was searched for the ship. It was allowed an anchorage in the river Karnaphully before the cyclone of April 29, 1991. On the night of that fateful day, the ship got dislodged from its anchorage by the gust of cyclonic wind and force of water surge, hit the port's dredger, the Al-Amanat, and sank it in the river, then rushed to the new bridge constructed over the Karnaphuly in the upper stream and hit a spanner of the bridge to fall in the river.
Notices were served on shipping companies/agents to take their ships out of the jetty area soon. The order was complied with.
Event 7: There is not a second organization in the country where political parties try to exert so much of their influence through participation in trade union activities as it happens in the Chittagong Port. The party in state power generally gives one message to the head of the organization which is, "We have placed you in the position you are in. You will accede to our demands." I was reminded of it.
During my tenure in the CPA, the demands from trade unions, especially one, became so pressing that one day in a meeting where the Minister-in-Charge and some of officials of the ministry were present, the Secretary of Ministry of Shipping said, "If you do not give the Chairman a minimum of support, it is not possible for him to manage the port properly."
Tiding over the
difficulties
In order to tide over the difficulties the CPA is now in
l The management of the CPA should be allowed freedom in performing its duties.
l After a matter is decided by the CPA, any one in the government should not ask the CPA to defer action or change the course of action decided. News report says that this has been done in the case of tender invitation for appointing berth operators. However, the government can ask for information in case of any complaint received by it.
l Moral support should be given to the head of the organization and his team in their efforts to do good things and take risks to save the organization from loss or disrepute.
l The management of the CPA should stand firm on decisions it takes judiciously. A shift in the stand will open a flood gate for accommodating interests of vested quarters.
l The present Chairman of the CPA should gird up his loins and ward off all odds.
I recollect with gratitude the support I received from the staff and officers of the Chittagong Port Authority during my tenure. I hope, they will give the same to their present Chairman. Sometimes I recollect the watchful eyes of the Secretary, Ministry of Shipping that made me work lawfully and judiciously.
M. A. Kamal FCA, FCMA is a former Member (Finance) and Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority