Container handling to fall for second consecutive year

For the second year in a row, the Chattogram seaport may face a drop in annual container throughput due to frequent declines in monthly container handling.

Port officials and users held the belief that the gradual slowdown in the country's import and export trade, influenced by global economic downturns such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, were responsible for the decline in container transport through the port.

Following a decline for five consecutive months since June, container handling by the port saw a slight rise in November. But the annual figures at the end of the year may remain below that of the previous year, they assumed.

However, they hoped that the port would still cling onto its membership of the "Three Million Club", which refers to the ports that reached the annual milestone of handling three million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers.

According to data from the traffic department of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), the port handled 31.33 lakh TEUs of containers in 2022, down from 32.14 lakh TEUs in 2021, a decrease of 2.53 percent.

And in the past 11 months till November, the total number of containers handled at different facilities of the port and in private off-docks stood at 27.81 lakh TEUs, 4.18 percent lower than the 29.03 lakh TEUs handled in the same period last year.

The CPA has prepared the data of containers handled by calculating the number of import, export and empty containers loaded and unloaded at the main jetties of the port, Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Keraniganj, Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka, and 19 private ICDs in Chattogram.

The monthly average for containers handled this year so far stands at 2.52 lakh TEUs. In November, the figure stood at 2.53 lakh TEUs.

Even if that same volume of containers is handled in December, the total annual volume would fall short of that in 2022 by nearly 1 lakh TEUs.

According to port data, monthly container handling declined by 3-5 percent on average in the five months to October, but grew 5.5 percent in November.

CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail said the global economic slowdown had an influence on the country's foreign trade, which was reflected in the fact that container handling had slightly decreased.

"But the difference will not be high and hopefully we will be able to be in the 'Three Million Club' in terms of container handling," he said.

He added that in spite of the global economic slowdown, the operational activities at the port have remained smooth, resulting in an increase in the handling of bulk cargo.

In the past 11 months, the port handled a total 11.05 crore tonnes of cargo, 0.04 percent higher than last year.

Syed Nazrul Islam, first vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said the country's major export-oriented sector had been facing a decline in export orders since the beginning of the year.

This is due to the fact that importing countries in Europe alongside the US are facing an economic slowdown, leading to lower demand for garments in their markets.

This decrease in export orders caused garment factories to reduce production, which in turn prompted a decline in the import of raw materials by these factories, he said.

The port experienced a decrease in container handling in 2020 due to a fall in container traffic mainly due to global supply chain disruptions amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, but managed to rebound and achieved a record high in handling in 2021.

But since then, annual container handling has been trending down.

As a result of that slowdown, many dock workers are suffering.

Chittagong Port Staff Parishad (Port CBA) General Secretary Md Naibul Islam Fatik said dock workers employed by berth operators suffered the most as jetties in the General Cargo Berth (GCB) terminal of the port occasionally remained vacant.

As most dock workers are not paid if there is no work, their income decreases, causing them to face hardship in maintaining their expenses, said Fatik.

However, he said the port authority tries to support workers by providing special incentives.

He mentioned that the CPA provided Tk 5.20 crore in incentives to a total of 6,512 registered workers employed by 46 private operating firms that handle berths, terminals and ships on the occasion of Victory Day this month. Each of the workers got Tk 8,000, he said.