The situation has worried businesses, shipping agents and mainline operators (MLOs), with over two dozens of container vessels waiting at the outer anchorage of the port for getting berth as of Friday.
Sources said the port authority would rather advise shipping agents and freight forwarders to transport containers through geared vessels until the damaged gantry cranes of the CCT (Chittagong Container Terminal) are repaired.
The cranes were damaged when a container vessel crashed into them during the berthing on June 25.
Meanwhile, a three-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the cause of the accident and the extent of damage to the gantry cranes, the sources said.
Since the accident, the operational activities in the jetty have remained suspended. The port has a total of 12 container handling jetties in the GCB (general cargo berth) area, NCT (New Mooring Container Terminal) and CCT.
On the Eid day, Chairman of the Chittagong Port Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal talked to a port user over phone and emphasised the use of non-gearless vessels, at least until the situation improves, sources said.
The CPA chairman is currently outside the country and hence the port authorities could not issue any circular to this effect, they added.
However, one of the two damaged cranes could be repaired very soon, but the other has been badly damaged, said an official at the mechanical engineering department of the Chittagong Port Authority, wishing not to be named.
The problem has been brought to the notice of the supplier company Mitsubishi of Japan and a team of experts from the company is scheduled to arrive in Chittagong on Monday to inspect the cranes, he said.
Port users expressed concern over the situation, saying that this is a major blow to the port as dozens of vessels carrying cargoes of imported goods, especially raw materials of garment factories, are forced to overstay for weeks in the port.
Buy Shipping Buy Shipping Container Nashville Nashville, however, can be handled using eight geared vessels in the conventional way in eight other operational container jetties — four in the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) and six in the GCB (general cargo berth).
The slowdown in container handling and delivery to the importers due to the long vacation of Eid-ul-Fitr has been further worsened by the damage to the gantry cranes, forcing gearless vessels (the vessels that have no cranes of their own and so use gantry cranes stationed in the jetty for lift-on and lift-off containers) sitting idle.
The congestion of vessels has been affecting the port’s operational activities for the last couple of months mainly due to influx of seasonal imports before Ramadan and the new fiscal budget.
Secretary of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association Ruhul Amin Sikdar feared that the congestion of containers in the port would worsen further. There are currently over 40,000 FCL (full container load) containers in the port, but the port’s holding capacity is 36,000 containers, he said.
He said the gearless vessels take much time in loading and offloading containers. So the delay will affect the RMG industry badly.
First vice-president of the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association) Moinuddin Ahmed Minto said there is no doubt that the RMG sector would feel the pinch severely.
“In such a situation, we have requested the Port chairman in an informal conversation to arrange arrival of geared vessels with agencies concerned,” he said.
On June 25, container vessel MV Xpress Suez crashed into two container gantry cranes in the CCT during the berthing at the terminal. The terminal has four gantry cranes to help the gearless vessels load and unload containers.
The Egyptian flag container vessel hit two of the four gantry cranes positioned over the rail tracks at the CCT jetty number 3, port sources said, adding that one gantry crane derailed while parts of another crane broke.
