A foreign vessel with a depth of 10.2 metres arrived at the inner anchorage of Payra Port in Patuakhali on Thursday, the first anchoring of a larger water vessel at the country's third seaport.

The Marshall Islands-flagged ship Aruna Hulya entered the port on Thursday afternoon with 37,800 tonnes of coal from Balikpapan Port in Indonesia, said Azizur Rahman, deputy director for media and traffic at the port.

This was the first time that a 10.2m depth ship, which is 188 metres long and 33 metres wide, has entered the inner anchorage of the port, which was launched in 2013.

Earlier, a ship with a depth of 13 metres arrived at the outer anchorage but could not enter the inner anchorage owing to a lower depth of water.

On March 26, the dredging of a 75km channel with a depth of 10.5 metres was completed, turning it as the deepest seaport in the country, according to the port authority.

Thanks to the dredging of the new channel, big ships can anchor at the jetty and goods can be unloaded directly from the mother vessel without any help from lighter vessels, reducing transport costs, port officials said.

A large ship of Madina Group carrying 60,000 tonnes of coal is expected to arrive at the port this week.

About 200 foreign ships have unloaded goods at the port in the last two years, generating more than Tk 516 crore in revenues for the port authorities.