Container and cargo handling at Chattogram port, the main seaport of Bangladesh, could hit record highs this year after declining steeply in the two years prior, according to official data.

Port officials and users said the rise in container and cargo handling is being driven by the recovery of foreign trade activities to some extent.

The country's foreign trade faced slowdowns over the past two years due to global crises like the Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East. Besides, domestic concerns such as the acute US dollar crunch and persisting higher inflation also played a part, they added.

Annual container handling at Chattogram port slumped by 2.92 percent year-on-year to 30.51 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2023.

However, it has already handled 29.92 lakh TEUs as of this November, indicating growth of 7.55 percent compared to the same period of last year.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) prepared the data on container handling by tallying the number of import, export and empty containers that were loaded and unloaded at the port's main jetties, the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Keraniganj and Kamalapur Inland Container Depot in Dhaka.

With the volume of containers handled on just the first day of this month, the port has exceeded the 3 million TEUs of container throughput required to retain its place in the "Three Million Club".

As such, port officials now hope that container handling at the port this year could exceed its previous record of 32.15 lakh TEUs in 2021.

"Considering the average monthly volume of container handling so far, we are hopeful about achieving a record-high this year," said CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk.

The average monthly container handling stands at 2.72 lakh TEUs, with February notching the lowest volume of 2.45 lakh TEUs.

Meanwhile, Chattogram port handled a total of 11.28 crore tonnes of cargo over the past 11 months, registering growth of about 2 percent year-on-year.

Faruk said the country's import-export activities have gained some pace this year, impacting the volume of container and cargo handling.

Syed M Arif, president of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, said there was acute container congestion due to a backlog stemming from political unrest in the July-August period this year.

The congestion gradually eased in later months, when container and cargo handling sped up, he added.