No vessel could come back to jetty for rough sea

No vessel could be brought back to the jetties of Chattogram port by today afternoon due to the existing rough sea and inclement weather, suspending operational activities at the port for the second consecutive day.

The full team of the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) pilots waited at ghat number 15 at Patenga near Karnaphuly estuary for over four hours since 10 am but failed to cross the sea for getting on board the 19 vessels to bring those back to jetties.

The 19 vessels were sent from the port's main and specialised jetties towards sea on Sunday morning to avert damage from the impact of cyclone Remal.

As the impact of cyclone diminished, the met office lowered the danger signal no 9 and advised to hoist signal 3 for the port today morning, the CPA also lowered its own highest security alert no4 and instead issued alert no 1 at 11 am.

Accordingly, the CPA Marine Department planned to bring back 19 vessels to the jetty by the morning tide.

At 5:30pm today, CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk told The Daily Star that they suspended boarding of pilots on vessels for the day as the high tide ended today afternoon and it is difficult for vessel navigation through the port channel at night.

Once the sea becomes comparatively calm, they would initiate move for bringing those back, he said.

As no vessel could arrive at the jetties, the loading and unloading of cargoes and containers at the port remain suspended, said the secretary.

Meanwhile, 49 vessels that were shifted from outer anchorage towards deep sea on Sunday early hours came back to the outer anchorage by today afternoon.

But unloading of import cargo from these vessels to smaller lighter vessels could not be resumed due to the inclement weather.

The CPA secretary, however, said cargo delivery from the port yards resumed partially in the morning and was going on at a limited scale due to incessant rain.

A senior official of the CPA Marine Department said 13 of the CPA pilots on three pilot boats attempted to cross the bay to reach the vessels but failed due to heavy swelling at the sea, incessant showering and gusty wind.

Several pilots got sick during these attempts. He said he had seldom experienced such swelling in the bay.

Considering the job would be highly risky they cancelled the plan after keeping the pilots standby till afternoon, he informed.