Port yard under water: Loading, unloading cease

Due to rough seas, cargo loading and unloading from ships at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port has been suspended for the consecutive three days now. Several yards in the preserved areas inside the port are waterlogged. The lower portions of containers stuffed with goods are partly submerged. This has raised concerns that some imported goods may be damaged.

Because of the turbulent sea, unloading from 50 large ships at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port and in the deep sea near Kutubdia has completely stopped. These ships carry around 2 million tons of cargo, including raw materials for cement production, crude soybean oil, raw sugar, stones, scrap metal (iron scraps), and coal.

Sarwar Hossain Sagar, Chairman of the Ship Handling and Berth Operators Association, said that unloading from ships has been completely halted since Monday. Normally, about 500,000 tons of cargo can be unloaded from these ships per day.

Due to water clogging in the port yards, Customs has been unable to conduct physical inspections of goods for two days. As a result of not being able to conduct physical inspections and not finding adequate transport, C&F agents are facing difficulties in delivering goods within the scheduled time. Importers are also incurring container storage charges at the port due to the rain.

Iqbal Hossain Rubel, Office Secretary of the C&F Employees Union, said that goods for which clearance approvals had been obtained have not been delivered from the port. As a result, they have had to pay container storage fees for two days.

Union leader Khairul Bashar Litun also said that those who had obtained clearance permits could not take delivery of about 10 percent of their goods over the past two days. Water has accumulated both inside and outside the port, and the truck stands and access roads are waterlogged. As a result, trucks and covered vans are not arriving on time.