Container movement to and from Chattogram port remained suspended for the second consecutive day as transport workers again went on work abstention yesterday morning -- just four hours after they had withdrawn their previous strike.

Drivers of container-carrying prime movers resumed work at 6:00am yesterday after a 34-hour work abstention.

However, they once again stopped operating their vehicles at 10:00am, alleging that the district administration did not keep its word as it failed to meet one of the key demands made by the prime movers.

This development severely impacted the port's operations.

One vessel left the port yesterday after postponing its scheduled departure by a day, but it left behind a significant volume of export containers as they could not be transported to the port in time.

Three other vessels also deferred their scheduled departures yesterday.

The Colombo-bound vessel, AS Sicilia, had initially postponed its departure on Wednesday, expecting the stalemate to be resolved by nightfall so that it could receive a substantial volume of exports.

However, according to port sources, the vessel, which was scheduled to take a total of 786 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export-laden containers, was only able to receive 545 TEUs.

Two other Colombo-bound vessels -- HR Shahare and HR Hera -- were also scheduled to depart the port yesterday.

An official of Karnaphuli Shipping, the local shipping agent of the two vessels, stated that HR Shahare, which berthed at the port jetty on Tuesday afternoon, had bookings for 900 TEUs of export-laden containers, but was only able to load 20 TEUs.

Not a single export container could be transported from private depots due to the non-operation of prime movers, the official added.

Meanwhile, HR Hera was only able to receive 30 TEUs out of its booked 200 TEUs.

Additionally, the Singapore-bound vessel Yuan Xiang Fa Zhan postponed its departure as only 8 TEUs of export containers out of the scheduled 60 could be loaded onto the vessel.