Ctg port to play vital role in economy in 3 to 5 years

Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail said Chittagong Port will be one of the international business hubs.

He also said, “Chittagong seaport will play a vital and positive role within the next 3 to 5 years for the economic development of the country.”

The CPA Chairman said this while addressing a view-exchange meeting with the senior journalists at the CPA Conference Hall on Tuesday.

He said, “Chittagong Port is on the way to a smart and modern international seaport. Many countries can use the port as it will be one of the biggest seaports in the world. The seaport will cover the area from Sadarghat to Matarbari with its Deep Sea Port, Bay Terminal, Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) and New-mooring Container Terminal (NCT) facilities.”

He also said, “Quality and capacity of Chittagong seaport is being increased and updated day by day to compete with the other modern ports of the world. Following the development of Chittagong Port, we are trying to increase our service quality, area, and sea routes now. The deep seaport at Matarbari will give us direct shipping facilities which will be a new era in the shipping sector of Bangladesh.”

“The work of the dream project, Deep Sea Port at Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar, is going on in full swing now,” he added.

The CPA Chairman further said Chittagong seaport upheld its business and increased activities of handling cargoes and containers overcoming the crisis due to the Ukraine war and coronavirus outbreak.

Mentioning that the Chittagong-Europe sea route resumed formally on February 7 in 2022 last after long 45 years from 1977 by leaving MV Songa Cheetah berthed at jetty number-4 at NCT of Chittagong port, he said, “The ports of Portugal, Slovenia, and Dubai of UAE want to sign an agreement with Chittagong port for direct sea routes. If the new routes start, the export and import of the country will increase remarkably.”

He said, “We have taken important projects to make the seaport the most modern one following the international standard. We have already made 50 software modules for the automation of the port activities. We extended the port limit from 7 NM to 62 NM. We will build new lighterage jetties in the Hamider Char area soon.”

He also said the pilots of CPA can berth 210-metre-long ships to the jetties of the Chittagong port now.

He said, “Chittagong port handled a record quantity of containers in 2022. The prime seaport of the country handled a total of 307,344 TEUS containers in the 2022-23 fiscal year.”

CPA chief said, “Chittagong seaport handled 118,296,743 MT open cargoes in the 2022-23 fiscal year. A total of 4,253 ships were handled in the 2022-23 fiscal year.”

Member of CPA Mohammad Shahidul Alam, Director Md Mominur Rashid, Secretary Omar Faruk, among others, were present at the meeting.
Source: The Financial Express