Ctg Port suddenly turns dynamic
Performance goes up by 30pc, business cost reduces by 40pc
Rafiq Hasan, back from Ctg
Following the promulgation of the state of emergency in January this
year, the efficiency of the premier port Chittagong increased 30
percent and the cost of running business there reduced by 40 percent, a
recent study revealed.The
turn-around time of ships at the port reduced to 4.48 days in the month
of April whereas it was 11.65 days in January this year. The number of
vessels handled per month at the port also increased to 86 in April
from 70 in January last. The number of ships handled in January 2006
was 60. The amount of cargo handled also increased to 83,245 TEUs (twenty equivalent units) in April from 76,213 in January last. The
customs' processing of export-import documents also ran at a quick pace
to keep up with the goods handling at the port. The Chittagong Port
customs officials claimed that over 98 percent documents have been
assessed so far within the time frame and only two percent remains
pending due to various reasons. The business community
expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the joint forces in
stopping corruption, illegal toll and bringing discipline back in cargo
handling. Immediately after deployment of army personnel
in order to aid the civil administration in January this year, a
taskforce under the joint forces took initiative and got involved in
the port activities, according to sources. The taskforce held a
series of meetings with all stake holders and rounded up corrupt labour
leaders, port officials and other criminals who were obstacles to
smooth operations of the port. A number of private operators
were also appointed to manage the terminal and handle cargo quickly as
part of the reform programme and gradually the port's activities
improved. The business community and port users started getting
the benefit of the actions taken by the joint forces and demanded
continuation of the reforms and the system to be made permanent so that
the premier port never went back to the previous dismal condition after
changes in the national politics. Earlier the premier port was
a headache for the nation for long as it was termed one of the most
insecure, inefficient and costliest ports of the world. It is
going to be a model for other sectors to follow as the long congestion
of the ships and containers were untangled with three-months' effort,
the sources said. At the moment, there is no ship congestion at
the port. Sometimes 5-8 berths remain empty due to lack of ships. Most
ships enter the Karnaphuli channel without wasting any time waiting at
the outer anchorage. In the month of January this year, the average
waiting time of ships at the outer anchorage was over 14 days. A
medium-sized ship's per day cost of waiting is around $10,000-15,000.
Sometimes ships wait at the outer anchorage due to technical reasons
like low tide. "We are happy and every sensible person should
be happy not only because the corruption has been stopped but also for
the port as it is moving towards maintaining a proper system," said MA
Latif, senior vice president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (CCCI). Due to the bad image of the port abroad,
the local business community has to pay at least 20-22 percent higher
freight charges than other ports of similar distant, he pointed out. Latif
said the port got a bad name as political parties used the port as a
tool to make their demands heard. "We want relief from the anarchy
created in the name of a democratic movement," he said. Referring
to the politicians, Latif further added that they have their democratic
rights for a political movement but they do not have any right to
create panic in order to realise their demands. There should be
a law made so that people who lost properties and suffered due to these
political movements could be compensated, he stated. "The port
has gone through a revolutionary change in the last three months and we
are moving in the right direction," said Mahbub Ali, chairman of
Bangladesh Shippers Council--a platform for exporters. He said
it would take more time to make everything all right but whatever
changes took place in last three months were never thought possible. "We
want the present condition to continue," he said, adding, "This is high
time to give the message to the politicians that the port should remain
above politics for the sake of this nation." According to
sources, the port situation started improving after the appointment of
Saif Powertec to undertake an integrated operation at the exclusive
container jetty, Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT). Earlier,
the company operated four sophisticated gantry cranes at the CCT.
Operations at the CCT were done by various groups and each group had
different jobs. As a result, the pace of container handling suffered. The
number of ships handled a month doubled at the CCT after all the
groups' operations were integrated. A total of 31 container ships were
handled at the CCT in April this year whereas 15 ships were handled in
December last year. Nine imported items are now taken directly
off docks from ships helping a long way in reducing container
congestion. The items are rice, wheat, beans, mastered, chickpeas,
scraps, wet paper, cotton and poultry feed. More than 1,000
trucks and over 2,000 labourers used to get inside the port to handle
these goods creating traffic congestions inside the port. The
container keeping capacity at the port jetty was increased to 22,000
TUEs from 12,000 TEUs a few months ago by expanding the yard area. The
space increased as the yard of newly constructed New Mooring Container
Terminal (NCT) was added to the available space. The port
authority hoped the capacity would be increased to 30,000 TEUs by July
this year when the park yard and under construction yard inside the
port become available. Earlier, lunch, dinner and prayer time
used to be long in Chittagong port. The authorities enforced a duty
roster at each station where the name of an employee and the duration
of his or her duty time were mentioned. The duty officer goes on
inspections to ensure that the right man is at right place at the right
time. The authorities also opened two complaint cells at the
terminal building and at the girls' school to respond to complaints.
This worked well as problems could be addressed faster, a source said. The
joint forces also took an initiative to stop power cuts inside the
port. The Power Development Board (PDB) connected the port jetty with
the national power grid and no disruption of power occurred at the
terminal in the last three months.
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