Derelict-like Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (PICT) is poised for renascence as its Switzerland-based foreign operator formally begins operating the trade facility today with plans to halve the box-transportation costs.
Sources say the company, Medlog SA, comes up with this and ancillary offers to woo users, who were averse to taking that freight route for export-import trade.
A key subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), world's largest container shipping line, Medlog took over the Dhaka-based PICT from the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) in November last for operation and management of the facility for a period of 22 years.
The operator has hired a number of barges to carry boxes to and from Chittagong seaport and PICT that will help the exporters and importers to avoid the congested Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
Company officials say due to slashing the barge fare, the box transportation costs on waterways will be competitive to other modes of transportation-- roads and rails.
According to officials concerned, the carrying of a twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of imports-laden box from Chittagong to Dhaka presently costs US$324 which will go down to $190 once the shipping multinational announces new freight rates.
On the other hand, carrying cost of a larger box, a forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU), is now $445 which will go down to $282 following the rate reduction.
ATM Anisul Millat, Managing Director, Medlog Bangladesh, told The Financial Express that exporters will be given further cost waiver for using the box terminal which remained underused since its establishment.
He said the carrying of a TEU of export cargo-laden container from Pangaon to Chittagong now costs $175 which will be slashed to $70 to make the waterways attractive for outbound cargoes.
On the other hand, he said, carrying cost of a bigger box will go down to $140 from the present rate of (FEU) $220.
"We are working on to offer package at 50-percent lower costs for the terminal users," said Mr Millat.
He thinks the new rates will make the PICT attractive to the customers.
Mohiuddin Rubel, a former director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), applauds the move to cut the transportation costs at the PICT which will help make exports and imports cheaper.
"This is really appreciable," he says.
Welcoming the Medlog's initiative, Faruque Hassan, a former BGMEA president, says traders will feel encouraged to increasingly use the terminal due to the fare cuts.
At the same time, he suggests enhancing the frequency of barges on the Pangaon-Chittagong route so that the traders can send and receive cargoes fast at the PICT which was a big drawback for the terminal in the past.
He says the Dhaka-Chittagong highway is "very congested" and any vehicle incident or event of labour unrest makes it dysfunctional.
"Since the water route does not face such obstacles, traders will get attracted to use the terminal if they are offered improved services," says Mr Hassan.
The PICT has annual handling capacity of 116,000 TEUs, with plans to elevate it up to 160,000 TEUs.
The terminal has a 180-meter jetty capable of handling two vessels simultaneously and it can store some 3,500 TEUs of containers in its yard.
However, much of the capacity of the terminal remains unused for lack of proper management and failure to make it attractive to the exporters and importers.
syful-islam@outlook.com
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