Container handling rises in Ctg port

A higher volume of container and cargo was handled at the Chattogram port in the first nine months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of the previous year.

Although business leaders termed it a good trend for the country's foreign trade, they added that the country's overall foreign trade was yet to meet the expectations of a rebound.

The port experienced a growth of over 8.27 percent in container handling in the July-March period of fiscal year 2023-24.

According to data provided by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), the port handled 23.38 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers, including those laden with imports and exports and empty ones, from July last year to March this year.

It had handled 21.60 lakh TEUs in the first nine months of the prior fiscal year.

The tally was kept at the main jetties of the port, Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) at Keraniganj and Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka, said CPA sources.

Different types of items meant for commercial use, commodities, machinery, chemical products, and all sorts of industrial raw materials, except those of the cement and ceramics sector, are imported using containers.

Goods meant for export are also solely transported through containers.

At a briefing on Wednesday, CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail expressed hope that container handling would reach 3.2 million TEUs at the end of the fiscal year, on condition that the present trend continues.

Overall cargo handling, meaning both containerised and bulk cargo, increased by 4.38 percent in this period.

The port handled a total of 9.16 crore tonnes of cargo in the first 9 months of fiscal year 2023-24, up from 8.78 crore tonnes in the same period a year ago.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) First Vice-President Syed Nazrul Islam said garment exports amounted to $37.2 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

This is 4.6 percent lower than the target of $39 billion, he said.

He added that neither import of raw materials for garment factories nor exports increased as per expectations.

Import of almost all raw materials meant for manufacturing garments alongside export cargo are transported in containers.

Regarding the rise in cargo and container handling at the port, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Omar Hazzaz said it was still too early to say whether the country's foreign trade has started to recover.

Exports are yet to reach expected levels, he said.

However, he stated that the rise in cargo handling at the port was "a good sign" and it showed that country's import trade was rising gradually.