Delays in Chittagong, increased container congestion, ships waiting up to 5 days for berths!

Delays and container congestion in Chittagong, Bangladesh, are reported to have increased, with ships waiting up to five days for berths, adding to the problems of importers during the epidemic lockdown and Ramadan.

Port officials say working hours at the port are reduced during Ramadan, leading to a drop in productivity and longer lines at unloading Windows.

Previously, ships were berthed within two days of arriving at the port area. Under normal circumstances, ships could unload and reload within 48 hours. This has been increased to 72 hours.

Meanwhile, despite the Port Authority's recent efforts to avoid congestion at the depot, the volume of containers at the port depot has exceeded 38,000 TEU due to slow deliveries.

Mohammed Abdullah Jahir, director of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, said Ramadan had a particularly significant impact on berthing.

"When the waiting time at Chittagong increases, the subsequent return voyage is also delayed, creating a stockpile of imported goods at the transshipment port," he said.

Mohammad Ahsanuzzaman, deputy director of Yangming agency Transmarine Logistics, added: "Importers are facing a difficult situation."

But he thinks the problem should be resolved soon.

Meanwhile, the Chittagong Port Authority has asked shipping agents to deploy larger vessels between Chittagong and the regional transshipment ports between Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang, and to withdraw smaller regional vessels to boost productivity.

Chittagong can handle vessels up to 190m with a draft of 9.5m.However, most of the feeder vessels between Chittagong and the regional transshipment port are less than 185 metres, resulting in insufficient capacity and low productivity.

A senior port official said port productivity could be increased by 20 percent if 190-meter-long ships were deployed, while only 85 larger ships could load the current load onto 115 ships.