Rough weather disrupts unloading at Ctg port

Unloading of imported goods from mother vessels at the Chittagong Port has been facing disruptions for three days as smaller vessels have failed to go near the outer anchorage to unload the containers amid incessant rain and a turbulent sea.

Especially since Monday, the rough weather, which has gripped the country, has virtually halted unloading activities at the outer anchorage of the country's main foreign trade gateway, according to the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) and ship handlers.

As of today, over 50 mother vessels carrying imported goods, including food grains like wheat, raw sugar, lentils, soybean oil, fertiliser, coal, limestone, as well as industrial raw materials like cement clinker, slag, steel scraps, and others, remained stuck at the outer anchorage, they said.

The Bangladesh Water Transport Coordination Cell (BWTCC), a private organisation that operates a portion of lighter vessels, said they are entitled to allocate lighter vessels for unloading goods from at least 25 mother vessels that are now staying in the outer anchorage.

A BWTCC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "We allocated 145 lighter vessels in the last three days for unloading cargo from those 25 bigger vessels, but not a single lighter vessel could sail for the outer anchorage due to heavy rolling and rain in the sea."

"Amidst incessant rain, cargo unloading is also not possible since the goods may get damaged," the official added.

Four maritime ports, including Chattogram, have been asked to keep hoisted local cautionary signal numbers since Saturday.

The local Met Office at Patenga recorded 160.2mm of rainfall in and around Chattogram city in the last 24 hours till 3:00pm yesterday.

Such disruption is increasing the stay time of mother vessels.

A vessel, MV Pac Sharon, carrying 55 thousand tonnes of cement clinker, arrived at the outer anchorage on June 22. Around 35 thousand tonnes of the imported goods still remained on board the vessel to be unloaded.

"The vessel could have left after finishing the cargo unloading in eight days if the weather had remained favourable," Jahur Ahmed, managing director of the ship's local agent Seacom Shipping Lines Limited, told The Daily Star.

Like Pac Sharon, cargo unloading from two more vessels—MV Etos and MV Ocean Ambition—under the same organisation has remained halted for the last few days, he added.

The prolonged stay of mother vessels also means additional costs for the importers.

"Importers will have to bear around $15,000 per day for each additional day the freight vessels stay," Ahmed stated.

According to BWTCC, at least 100 lighter vessels loaded with imported goods remained stranded in the Karnaphuli River as they failed to leave for different destinations due to foul weather.

Meanwhile, activities at the main jetties of the port, including container handling, are going on even as unloading of bulk cargoes from the vessels berthed at jetties and delivery of such goods have slowed down, CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk said.