The Chattogram port today berthed first ever vessel with 10-metre draught and 200 metres in length at a jetty, a big achievement for the port as such ships will fuel import and export of cargo and cut cost.

The increased permissible draught limit of 10 metres and length limit of 200 metres will enhance the port's cargo and container handling capacity.

A pilotage team of the port led by Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Member (Harbour) Commodore M Fazlar Rahman successfully berthed the Marshal Island flagged vessel named MV Common Atlas, coming from Port of Santos of Brazil carrying 60,500 tonnes of sugar.

It was berthed at a jetty of Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) of the port at 5.24 pm today.

So far, ships with a maximum of 9.5 metres of draught—the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the ship's hull—and of up to 190 metres in length can berth at some of the port's main jetties.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury is scheduled to formally inaugurate berthing of 10-metre draught vessel through a ceremony at CCT Jetty No. 1 tomorrow morning.

The authority has taken the initiative upon recommendation by a United Kingdom-based consultant firm HR Wallingford.

The firm conducted a detail hydrological study in river Karnaphuli for one and a half years and gave opinion recently that the port can accommodate 10-metre draught vessels, said CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk.

The navigability of the port channel and the jetty areas has been improved by preventing siltation through continuous maintenance dredging by the authority which enable the port to raise the draught limit, he said.

The authority gradually increased the draught limit in the last 47 years to cope with the increasing trade demand.

Port users hoped that the move would enable transport of more cargo and containers by a single vessel, which ultimately would reduce transport cost as well as speed up foreign trade.