Ctg port slips three notches, now 67th busiest port in the world

The Chattogram port has lost the advancement it made the previous year and slipped three notches down to become the 67th busiest port in the world in 2022 in terms of annual throughput of containers.

The country's premier port moved up three notches to 64th position among 100 top busiest global ports in the 2022's edition of the Lloyd's List One Hundred Ports, the world's oldest journal on port and shipping.

The journal published its 2023 edition last week tallying up the annual container throughput figures of the global ports in 2022, where it showed that the Ctg port has posted a 2.2 percent fall in container handling.

It said the Chattogram port handled a total of 3,142,504 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in 2022, down from 3,214,548 TEUs in 2021.

In the global ranking, the port advanced for seven consecutive years since 2014, but for the first time it slipped nine notches to rank 67th in 2021 edition of Lloyd's List, mainly for decreased container traffic in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit garment export to a great extent.

The port ranked 58th in 2020 edition of the ranking, 64th in 2019, 70th in 2018, 71st, 76th, 87th and 86th in 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Capacity limitations have caused the port to post the fall in container handling, the journal said.

The port officials, however, blamed the drop in the ranking on the falling trend in foreign trade because of the Russia-Ukraine war at the beginning of 2022 and a slowdown in imports since the middle of that year.

Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Md Omar Faruk said the Ukraine war and the restrictions on import of luxury goods reduced container traffic in 2022.

However, overall cargo and ship handling at the port saw a rise last year, he said.

Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam said the Ukraine war slowed economic activities across the world and Bangladesh was no exception in that case.

Imports also have fallen significantly due to the acute US dollar crisis, he added.

He, however, is optimistic about a positive turn in global economy in the coming future and emphasised on expediting the expansion projects of the port, including construction of Bay Terminal, to enhance the port's capacity.