Ctg port operations stalled as security concern halts goods release

The activities of Chittagong Port, which came to a standstill on 4 August when goods transport by train was suspended following the enforcement of a curfew over a demand of the government's resignation, are still stalled.

Although offices including the port reopened today, a day after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, businesses were yet to resume releasing goods in full swing on security grounds in the wake of the absence of traffic police on highways. Transport owners also said they do not feel secured either.

Police members came under attacks in places as a consequence of their actions against protesters including shooting at people. Although the government fell on Monday, the situation is yet to become normal.

Liakat Ali, port affairs secretary of the Chittagong C&F Agents Association, told TBS, "Container delivery operations at the port have once again come to a standstill over the past few days. As vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway has almost come to a halt, most importers have no released their goods as of Tuesday."

Meanwhile, starting Tuesday afternoon, customs assessment activities at the Chattogram Customs House were suspended due to security concerns, officials said. 

As a result, C&F agents were unable to submit bills of entry for imports and bills of export for exports, they said. Customs officials were also unable to carry out assessments, they added.

Chowdhury Zafar Ahmed, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association, told TBS, "Our drivers and helpers are feeling unsafe driving on the roads. Since Monday night, there has been no traffic police presence on the highway. Vehicle owners are not sending out trucks due to fears of goods being hijacked or facing any kind of untoward incidents on the highway." 

As a result, even though the port is ready to deliver goods, fewer goods are being released, he said.

According to the Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association, around 10,000 vehicles typically move in and out daily from various locations, including Chattogram Port, Khatunganj, and Falmondi, for transporting goods. Of these, approximately 6,000 vehicles transport goods from the port each day. 

However, this number has now dropped to below 1,000. The transportation cost on the Dhaka-Chattogram route has nearly doubled, increasing from the usual Tk15,000-Tk16,000.

After containers are unloaded from ships at the Chattogram port, some goods for importers in Dhaka are transported by rail to Dhaka's Kamalapur ICD (Inland Container Depot). However, due to the quota reform movement, rail transportation of goods from Chattogram Port had been halted since 18 July.

Although rail transportation of goods resumed on 1 August, it was halted again just three days later on 4 August resulting in steady increase of the number of containers at the port.

Abdul Malek, chief yard master of the Chittagong Goods Port Yard, told TBS, "Due to security concerns, rail transportation of goods has been halted again since 4 August. In this situation, export goods cannot be transported to and from the Dhaka ICD."

The port yard has a container storage capacity of 53,518 TEUs. According to port officials, under normal circumstances, there are between 30,000 and 32,000 TEUs of containers in the yard. On 19 July, there were 35,212 TEUs of containers in the port yard. As of 8am today, the number of containers in the yard increased to 44,117 TEUs.

According to port officials, from 8am on Monday to 8am Tuesday, 329 TEUs of containers were delivered from the port yard. Of these, importers took delivery of 125 TEUs, while the remaining 204 TEUs were sent to private ICDs.