Delays in Chittagong Port, increased container congestion, and ships waiting for berths for up to 5 days!
Jim
Sunny Worldwide Logistics
2021-05-07 11:42:54
According to the search network, the delays and container congestion in Bangladesh's Chittagong Port have increased. Ships can wait for berths for up to 5 days, which adds trouble to importers during the epidemic blockade and Ramadan. Port officials said that during Ramadan, the port’s working hours were reduced, resulting in a decline in productivity and a longer queue waiting for the unloading window. In the past, ships berthed within two days after arriving in the port area. Under normal circumstances, ships can unload and repack within 48 hours. This has now increased to 72 hours. At present, about 9 container ships are waiting at the outer anchorages, and another 10 are operating at the berths. At present, there are 91 ships in operation in the waters of Chittagong.
At the same time, despite recent efforts by the Port Authority to avoid congestion in the yard, due to slow delivery, the number of containers in the port yard has exceeded 38,000 teu. According to Mohammed Abdullah Jahir, director of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, Ramadan has a particularly significant impact on berthings. He said: "When the waiting time of ships in Chittagong increases, subsequent return voyages will also be delayed, resulting in a stock of imported goods at the transshipment port." Mohammad Ahsanuzzaman, deputy director of Yangming’s local agent Transmarine Logistics, added: “Importers are facing difficulties.” But he believes that this problem should be resolved next month.
At the same time, the Chittagong Port Authority has asked shipping agents to deploy larger ships between Chittagong and the regional transshipment ports between Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang, and withdraw small feeder ships to increase productivity. Chittagong can handle ships of 190 meters and a draft of 9.5 meters. However, most of the feeder ships between Chittagong Port and the regional transshipment port are less than 185 meters, resulting in insufficient capacity and low productivity. A senior port official said that if 190-meter-long vessels are deployed, port productivity can be increased by 20%, while only 85 larger vessels can load the currently loaded cargo on 115 vessels.
