Staff Reporter :
The government has decided to keep the country’s prime sea and land ports open round-the-clock in wake of backlog of ships and speedy clearance of export-import goods from ports.
The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday.
“Chittagong seaport and Benapole land port will remain open for seven days a week from August 1. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the activities through a videoconference on the same day,” Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told reporters after the meeting.
He said the government came up with the move for fast-track clearance of export and import goods from the ports.
“The move will also help to reduce the existing backlog of ships at the outer anchorage of the Chittagong seaport,” Khan added.The minister also said that the authorities concerned will take steps to keep open the customs and banks in the port areas for 24 hours smooth functioning of the ports.
Earlier, businessmen expressed concern over the backlog of ships at the Chittagong seaport saying the development was seriously hampering their export-import business as well as spiking cost of doing business. Shipping Secretary Ashok Madhob Roy, Bangladesh Land Port Authority’s Chairman Tapon Kumar Chakroborty, NBR Member Md Lutfor Rahman, Foreign Ministry’s South Asia Wing Director General Md Monowar Hossain were present, among others, at the meeting.
Welcoming the move, Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) told The New Nation yesterday that operation of Chittagong port round-the clock would help ensure proper cargo vehicles management, maintaining berth time and serial of lighter vessels and loading and unloading of export-import cargoes and reduce cost.
He also urged the authorities concerned to improve capacity of Chittagong port so that it can compete internationally.
Chittagong Port handled 7 crore 72 lakh 55 thousand 731 metric tonnes of cargoes and 23 lakh 46 thousand 909 TEUs of containers in 2016. The number of vessels arrived at berth in Chittagong Port rose to 3,014 in 2016 from 2,709 in 2015.
Benapole port is the largest land port of the country and imports through the port rose around 10 per cent on average each year between 2005-06 and 2014-15, according to the customs house of the port. During the period, imports increased from Tk 5,191 crore to Tk 15,665 crore. The port could not reach its revenue earning targets in the last five fiscal years. The government earns Tk 2,500 crore to Tk 3,000 crore from the port every year. In 2014-15, a total of 13.79 lakh tonnes of goods were imported from India through the port. It fell nearly 6 percent to 12.98 lakh tonnes in 2015-16.
