Chinese ship loaded with bitumen seized at Ctg port

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHATTOGRAM, June 18: The Mercantile Marine Office at Chittagong Sea Port seized a ship loaded with bitumen at port on Thursday for chemical test on the imported goods as per directive of a local court.

Sources said, the Chinese vessel - Goang Jhu One, loaded with 11,220 metric tonnes (MT) of bitumen - reached the Chittagong Port on May 21 from Sharjah of the United Arab of Emirates (UAE). The PHP Group and MS Elias Brothers (MEB) Group imported the bitumen.

Although the ship arrived at the port about a month back, its is yet to get nod from the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to take berth at Dolphin Jetty of the port as the Principal Mercantile Marine Office directed to carry out chemical test on the bitumen to ensure its quality before unloading the goods from the vessel at the Chittagong port.

Meanwhile, PHP Group filed a case with a court claiming to give it the demurrage charge to the tune of Tk 240 million (Tk 24 crore), accumulated in the last one month, for not allowing the ship take berth and unload the imported bitumen at the port. Following filing of the case, the court issued an order to seize the ship on June 09. Following the court order the ship seized on Thursday.

Talking to the reporters, Principal Officer of Mercantile Marine Office Captain Giasuddin Ahmed said, "As per a directive of the court, we have seized the ship loaded with 11,220 MT bitumen at Chittagong port today."

nazim07@yahoo.com