Prof ABM. Mosharraf Husain, Bagerhat :
Finally the authority concer has taken steps to dredge out the outer anchorage of Mongla Sea Port recently.
For want of sufficient navigability in the outer bar (outer anchorage) of Mongla Sea Port both local and foreign ships laden with goods very often aground with shoals of the bar.
Big ships with much depth cannot enter the bar at all. When ships aground with shoals of the bar it (bar) goes almost to the point of closed. Then 50 percent of the goods are unloaded from the ships with lighter ships and later the mother ships are removed from there. In order to solve this problem the government has taken an appreciable project to dredge the outer bar. The project was already passed in the ECNEC on November 14, 2017 and a sum of TK.712,5 crores was sanctioned for the implementation of the same. It was confirmed by Commodore AKM Faruq Hasan, Chairman of Mongla Port Authorities (MPA). The Chaiman disclosed, in this connection tender will be invited in the next (December) month.
Source of the Harbour Department said , the length of the channel (bar) from the entry point of channel (in the Bay of Bengal) to the port is 131 kilometers. The entry point of the (Pashur) channel from the bay where the fair buoy is situated was silted up due to continuous arrival of sands with the flows of the water. As a result, the navigability of the channel was reduced to a great extent. Due to the want of navigability of the entry point of the channel foreign ships with 8 to 8.5 meter draft (depth) can reach up to the fair buoy only at the time of high tide. At the time of ebb tide ships with only 7 meter draft can reach the fair buoy.
Commander Ualiullah, Harbour Master of the port said , navigability crisis of the outer bar of the port reached its climax. Four years ago a plan was adopted to increase the navigability of the bar through dredging. But it was at last dropped as it was not approved by the authorities concerned.
Saiful Islam, General Secretary of the Coordination Committee of the users of Mongla Port said , due to want of navigability foreign ships are forced to anchor in the outer bar of the port and goods are loaded and unloaded from the ships there with lighter ships and that is why excess time is lost. Consequently, both the users of the port and the owners of ships are incurring loss
Captain Rafiqul Islam, Chairman of the Association of Bangladesh Shipping Agents told The New Nation , at time of high tide ships with 8 meter draft (depth) can reach up to the outer bar. But many foreign ships with 9 to 10 meter draft (Depth) ships cannot enter the bar. So, those ships go to Chittagong port. It is less expensive to import and export of goods by ships with much draft (depth) in comparison with the importing and exporting of goods by small ships. So, a good number of importers and exporters are compelled to use Chittagong Port.
HM Dulal, a member of C & F Agents’ Association of Mongla Port disclosed, for want of dredging of the outer bar the users of the port have been suffering loss for years together.
On the other hand, the owners of ships are not willing to send their ships to Mongla Port for want of navigability of the outer bar.
It may be mentioned here that in the 90th decade a big foreign ship named MV. Ocean Wave sank in the outer bar of the port. Not only that but also as many as 17 other ships including 5 foreign ships including MV. Pablina sank in the channel of the port at different times. 5 ships out of 18 are big. Due to those sunken ships the bed of the river Pashur (channel of the port) was silted up. In this connection project was taken to dredge the channel of the port.
AKM Faruq Ahsan, Chairman of Mongla Port Authority , disclosed to the newsmen, the project for dredging the outer bar of the port was approved by ECNEC in a meeting held on November 14, 2017 and a sum of Tk.712.5 crores was sanctioned in the same meeting for the implementation of the project. The Chairman added, in this connection tender will be invited in the next month. If the outer bar of the port is dredged ships with 10 meter draft (depth) will be able to enter the channel of the port easily and consequently, the arrival of ships will be increased and the revenue of the port will be enhanced.
