As Bangladesh’s annual monsoon season kicks into gear, heavy rainfall and rough sea conditions have disrupted unloading of imported containers at the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port for three days.
Since Monday, the inclement weather has prevented feeder vessels from collecting cargo from larger, mainline vessels anchored at sea and transporting it through the country’s waterways. This has effectively halted the movement of goods to various inland destinations.
“We allocated 145 lighter vessels in the last three days for unloading cargo from those 25 bigger vessels, but not a single lighter vessel could sail for the outer anchorage due to heavy rolling and rain in the sea,” an unidentified official representing the Bangladesh Water Transport Coordination Cell told the Daily Star. “Amidst incessant rain, cargo unloading is also not possible since the goods may get damaged.”
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According to Chattogram Port Authority data, 97 vessels—including container ships, bulk carriers and oil tankers—were at the outer anchorage as of Tuesday. Eighteen of them are container ships waiting to berth at the port’s jetty, while another 33 are general cargo ships.
As of noon local time Wednesday, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department had forecast continued rainfall over the next 24 hours.
Chattogram Port, also known as Chittagong Port, is no stranger to weather-related congestion. Late last August, heavy flooding throughout Bangladesh resulted in a similar situation, in which the discharge of cargo from mainline vessels to feeder vessels was suspended.
That flood also stalled travel between Dhaka and Chattogram, slowing down cargo transportation across trucking and rail and obstructing the loading and unloading operations at the port.
Just a week prior to the recent climate disruptions, Chattogram Port had endured a two-day strike by its customs officials in solidarity with the country’s tax administrator, effectively shutting down container movement in and out of the port.
As of Friday, Kuehne + Nagel said the port was “heavily disrupted,” with berthing congestion lasting between five and seven days on average. Additionally, the average vessel port stays, marking the time a ship stays at the berth, increased to three to four days.
Chattogram’s ongoing port disruptions have pushed the port’s customs house to form a dedicated auction committee Tuesday, in hopes of alleviating more container congestion.
Following a directive from the National Board of Revenue, the committee will be responsible for disposing all auctionable goods except vehicles, linked to both import and export orders.
The initiative is designed to prevent long-term stockpiling of undeclared, confiscated or duty-unpaid goods and ultimately clear space.
As of Tuesday, 10,060 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of auctionable containers occupied space in the port’s yard, accounting for nearly 19 percent of total 53,518-TEU storage capacity at the hub.
Pakistan plans to slash container dwell 70 percent
Elsewhere in south Asia, Pakistan is looking to develop more ways to better position itself as a regional trade hub while modernizing its port infrastructure.
Pakistan’s federal minister of maritime affairs, Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, unveiled the establishment of a committee aimed at reducing container dwell time at the country’s ports by up to 70 percent.
While container dwell time at Pakistani ports like Port Qasim and the Port of Karachi typically lasts around a week, the government wants to reduce this to just two days, following directives from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The decision follows the Port Qasim Authority’s move to cut port fees for exporters by 50 percent. That cutback is aimed at spurring economic growth via improved port operations, all while attracting more businesses to export cargo out of the gateway.
Additionally, the move could entice carriers to pull back surcharges that they added after the country cut off trade with neighboring India.
Chaudhry made the container dwell announcement during a meeting held at the Federal Board of Revenue headquarters in Islamabad. The committee will present a comprehensive set of recommendations to remove procedural hurdles and streamline cargo clearance processes within 10 days.
A “monitoring room” will be created to oversee real-time container movement throughout the port.
“Drones and AI technology will also be deployed to monitor vessel docking operations through to the container’s exit from the terminal,” Chaudhry said during the meeting.
At the meeting, Chaudhry said delays in container release impose more costs on importers and exporters, hampering Pakistan’s competitiveness in international markets.
Islamabad is working to increase the efficiency of its ports in Karachi and Gwadar as it seeks to expand global connectivity. As part of the strategy, the government also plans to launch a ferry service to Gulf countries and encourage landlocked Central Asian states to use Pakistani ports for access to international sea lanes.
