Container movement at Chattogram port has remained suspended since Tuesday night following a clash between the workers of prime movers and the security staff of Chattogram DC Park earlier that day.

This is because the drivers and helpers of container-carrying prime movers stopped plying their vehicles after the clash, according to Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA).

As such, not a single export or import container was transported between the port and 21 private inland container depots (ICDs) in the last 21 hours till 5:00 pm on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the stalemate even forced a vessel bound for Singapore to leave with more than 100 TEUs of export containers missing from its expected load.

Also, the departure of a vessel bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, has been postponed by at least a day as it is waiting for a considerable number of export containers to reach the port from ICDs.

Hasan Mahmud, joint secretary of the Chattogram District Prime Movers Trailers Workers' Union, said the workers enforced work abstention in protest of an assault on a number of fellow workers by the security staff of DC Park on Tuesday evening.

The Singapore-bound vessel Helgoland left the port at around 2:00 pm without taking 101 TEUs of export containers as they did not reach the port due to the workers' movement, said Ziaul Quader, associate director of the ship's local agent, Trans Marine Logistics Ltd.

Besides, these export cargoes destined for the US and Europe may miss connecting with mother vessels at the transshipment port, he added.

Colombo-bound AS Sicilia had to defer its scheduled departure as around 380 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export containers could not be sent to the port from depots, sources said.

The clash broke out around 7:00 pm on Tuesday following an altercation between security staff at DC Park and the driver of a prime mover, which was heading to the BM Container Depot from the port.

Witnesses say the driver failed to slow down when a security guard signalled that a private car was exiting the park's parking lot and ended up slightly rear-ending the vehicle.

The driver was then beaten by the park's security staff, prompting a group of prime mover workers to retaliate once informed.

The workers then went on a rampage inside the park, creating panic among the park's visitors as they protested the assault on a peer.

They also blockaded the Fouzderhat-Port Access Road and port gates in Chattogram city's Saltgola area for hours till early yesterday.

The workers also staged demonstrations near the port gates, suspending the entry and exit of all container-carrying vehicles and creating an acute gridlock that lasted all day.