Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is preparing to float an open tender to appoint a temporary operator for New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) of the Chattogram port until a foreign one is entrusted with the role.

An open tender is an invitation to all eligible and qualified vendors without any additional restrictions or prerequisite criteria.

The CPA has sent a proposal to the shipping ministry to amend some clauses in a 2018 government directive, officially called a "Statutory Regulatory Order", which effectively limited bids, said CPA Chairman Rear Admiral SM Moniruzzaman yesterday.

An open tender will ensure that the bidding is participatory, competitive and not discriminatory, he said.

He was addressing a press conference at CPA auditorium yesterday, the first since he took office on August 10 right after the fall of the Awami League government.

A government-to-government agreement is currently in effect for the appointment of Dubai state-owned multinational logistics company DP World to run the NCT under public private partnership

The agreement with the current operator, Saif Powertec Ltd, will expire in the first week of January next year. It was appointed under a "direct procurement method", which stipulated that bids meet specific requirements.

A government-to-government agreement is currently in effect for the appointment of Dubai state-owned multinational logistics company DP World to run the NCT under public private partnership.

DP World operates ports around the world, from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires, and is headquartered at its flagship Jebel Ali Port in Dubai.

A consultation firm, officially termed "international transaction adviser", has also been appointed to fix the terms and conditions.

It will take around a year to get the documents from the "international transaction adviser", said the CPA chairman.

The NCT, with its five container jetties, handles over 60 percent of the Chattogram port's containers. 

The Chattogram port, Bangladesh's premier seaport, handles roughly 90 percent of the South Asian country's annual $125 billion trade with the rest of the world.

Today, it is the 67th busiest container port in the world and in 2022, it handled 31.4 lakh TEUs of containers.

Apart from the NCT, the Chattogram port has a Chittagong Container Terminal, a Patenga Container Terminal and a General Cargo Berth.

Additional expansion projects—a Laldia multipurpose terminal and Bay Terminal—are currently being implemented.

In another development, a new shipping liner service has directly connected the Port of Karachi in Pakistan to the Chattogram port, saving time and costs, he said.

Previously, cargo was transported between the two countries via transhipment ports in Colombo and Singapore, he said.

The new service will connect several countries like the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, said the CPA chairman.

For the first time, a container vessel named MV Yang Xiang Fa Zhan arrived at the Chattogram port from Karachi on November 11.

It contained 328 import-laden containers, including 264 from Karachi and the rest from Jebel Ali Port. The vessel left for Indonesia on the following day.

The vessel had a capacity to carry 2,300 containers and the shipping liner would continue operating on the route if imports increase, added the CPA chairman.