Trouble brewing at Ctg port
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Jasim Uddin Haroon
The country's premier port of Chittagong is bracing for labour unrest again as the workers laid off during the past caretaker regime are reorganising themselves under political patronisation.
Around 4000 labourers and equipment operators lost their jobs following major reform measures were taken in the port by the Chittagong Port Authority after the 1/11 changeover.
The operations of the Chittagong port, termed as one of the expensive ports in the world, improved significantly after January 2007 with the lead time dropping to around two and half days from 11 days earlier.
Recently, port's winch operators, formed a human chain in front of Chittagong port and also suspended work for around two hours during their agitation programme.
Winch operators, who work in geared vessels to load and unlaod containers, want a pool of workers for hiring as allowed under the previous systems.
Apart from this, labour unions under different political parties are also organising themselves on different issues, sources claimed.
MA Latif, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) told the FE Friday: "We will resist any attempt to distabilise the port activities."
Mr Latif, who is also a ruling party lawmaker, said: "We have asked port officials at a recent meeting to resolve the problems through discussion."
However, port officials claimed that the retrenched workers were given all the benefits.
Fazle Akram, managing director of Fazlisons Limited, a berth operator in the port said: "Labour leaders who lost their jobs on the ground of inefficiency are inciting the trouble."
"How will the port work efficiently when the port authority has recruited the suspended officials?" questioned Tarafadar Md Ruhul Amin, managing director of Saif Powertec Limited, the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) operator.
During the state of emergency around 20 port officials were put under suspension and most of them had been jailed for specific allegations.
Rafiqul Islam, country director of PIL, A Singapore-based feeder service operator, told the FE: "We are seeing a number of bad signals in the port and we have already advised the port authority to take action, otherwise, we will go back to the previous (unruly) state."
Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said: "We urge the government to maintain the success stories of the interim government. Otherwise, the lead time will rise affecting the largest export earning sector."
The ships' stay time has been reducing since the proclamation of state of emergency on January 11 in 2007 as the joint forces took large number of reform programme to raise the port efficiency.
Ships dwelt time was more than 11 days in January in 2007 and it started dropping after implementing reform programmes.
In February 2009, the turnaround time of vessels was 2.39 days, 2.40 days in January and 2.43 in December in 2008.
The country's premier port of Chittagong is bracing for labour unrest again as the workers laid off during the past caretaker regime are reorganising themselves under political patronisation.
Around 4000 labourers and equipment operators lost their jobs following major reform measures were taken in the port by the Chittagong Port Authority after the 1/11 changeover.
The operations of the Chittagong port, termed as one of the expensive ports in the world, improved significantly after January 2007 with the lead time dropping to around two and half days from 11 days earlier.
Recently, port's winch operators, formed a human chain in front of Chittagong port and also suspended work for around two hours during their agitation programme.
Winch operators, who work in geared vessels to load and unlaod containers, want a pool of workers for hiring as allowed under the previous systems.
Apart from this, labour unions under different political parties are also organising themselves on different issues, sources claimed.
MA Latif, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) told the FE Friday: "We will resist any attempt to distabilise the port activities."
Mr Latif, who is also a ruling party lawmaker, said: "We have asked port officials at a recent meeting to resolve the problems through discussion."
However, port officials claimed that the retrenched workers were given all the benefits.
Fazle Akram, managing director of Fazlisons Limited, a berth operator in the port said: "Labour leaders who lost their jobs on the ground of inefficiency are inciting the trouble."
"How will the port work efficiently when the port authority has recruited the suspended officials?" questioned Tarafadar Md Ruhul Amin, managing director of Saif Powertec Limited, the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) operator.
During the state of emergency around 20 port officials were put under suspension and most of them had been jailed for specific allegations.
Rafiqul Islam, country director of PIL, A Singapore-based feeder service operator, told the FE: "We are seeing a number of bad signals in the port and we have already advised the port authority to take action, otherwise, we will go back to the previous (unruly) state."
Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said: "We urge the government to maintain the success stories of the interim government. Otherwise, the lead time will rise affecting the largest export earning sector."
The ships' stay time has been reducing since the proclamation of state of emergency on January 11 in 2007 as the joint forces took large number of reform programme to raise the port efficiency.
Ships dwelt time was more than 11 days in January in 2007 and it started dropping after implementing reform programmes.
In February 2009, the turnaround time of vessels was 2.39 days, 2.40 days in January and 2.43 in December in 2008.