Ships' berth stay breaks new record

The berth stay period of ships has hit all-time high in Chittagong port to seven days from two to three days at best, caused by the COVID-19-linked shutdown.
Before reaching the jetties, the vessels now need to wait at the outer anchorage for nearly 12 days, which means some vessels' average port stay totalled 15 days.
For an additional stay a day, operators have to pay over $7,000 to the vessel owners as demurrage, said a representative of a mainline carrier in Dhaka.
"We are incurring huge financial losses during the shutdown period," he said.
On Thursday, some 10 container vessels were staying in main jetties, but they were unloading the boxes by rationing the system due to the space shortage at the port yard.
Meantime, the number of containers at the port yard has gone beyond the storage capacity, almost halting the required space for container movement.
The port yard has a total storage capacity of 49,018 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) while on Thursday, 49,410 TEUs of containers were lying. On the day, some 30 container vessels were waiting for berthing.
Vessel Cape Orient came to the outer anchorage of the port on April 3 and managed to get berthing on April 11 with 1,602 TEUs of containers. Until April 15, it could unload only 579 TEUs of containers and is expecting to leave the port on April 18 by unloading the rest and loading outgoing containers.
A vessel namely California Trader reached the port's water area on April 4 and got berthing at NCT-4 on April 11. The vessel carried 2,032 TEUs of containers, but was still waiting with over a 1,000 TEUs to unload. The vessel is expected to leave the jetty on April 18 after staying seven days.
Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority S M Abul Kalam Azad told the FE the only solution to the yard congestion is importers have to get the delivery of the containers as early as possible to free the space for the continuation of port operation.
"Some importers are taking advantage of store rent waiver and using the yard as their warehouse during the shutdown period," he said.
Mr Azad said every big factory has warehouses, but they are not getting the delivery of containers, citing the reason of factory closure.
The other option is shifting all types of boxes to the off-docks, where presently the space for some 15,000 TEUs remains free. But for that, order has to come from the high-ups of the national tax authority, he said.
Presently, containers carrying 37 types of goods are allowed to be released through the off-docks.
Contacted, commissioner of the Chittagong Customs House M Fakhrul Alam told the FE all types of containers remained stuck in the port yard as importers are not getting the delivery.
"Even if the port voluntarily shifts the containers, which carry 37 types of goods, to the off-docks a considerable space becomes free," he said.
Regarding allowing releasing all types of goods-laden containers through the off-docks, Mr Alam said an inter-ministerial meeting has to be convened for reaching the decision.
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