Bangladesh News

Business activities at Chittagong Port could not resume fully yesterday as the operation of four vital gantry cranes remained suspended.
The four Quay Gantry Crane (QGC) were installed in January this year at a cost of Tk 150 crore to accelerate the loading and unloading activities at the premier port.

Suspended since November 12 for political agitation programme, operation of the gantry cranes could not resume yesterday even after postponement of the programme as Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury opposed the operation by private operators, sources said.

Negotiation is going on to start operation of the gantry cranes, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) member (Traffic) Ahsanul Kabir said yesterday evening.

A delegation comprising CPA representatives and dock workers’ leaders is negotiating with the mayor for his consent to resume the operation of gantry cranes, sources said.

As the gantry cranes have been kept idle, loading and unloading activities at the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT)have all but stopped. Fifty per cent port activities remained suspended, said a high official of the Chittagong port.

Private company Saif Powertech Ltd had been awarded the job of operating the vital gantry cranes in June this year as the performance of the port operators in loading and unloading of containers was very poor, sources said.

Mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who wants operation of the cranes through port operators, is opposing resumption of the operation of the gantry cranes, said the sources, adding that a section of port stevedores are supporting the mayor as they may get job if the private company leaves the task.

The Chittagong port workers loyal to the city mayor are demanding cancellation of the agreement with Saif Powertec Limited for operating the cranes for two years.

Two gearless container vessels are now anchored idle at the container terminal while another four gearless vessels are waiting at the outer anchorage for getting permission to anchor. A normal container vessel can operate without a gantry crane, but a gearless vessel is unable to get loading and unloading work done without it.

Loading and unloading activities accelerated after Saif Powertec Limited started operating the QGC on August 5 this year. The private company handled 25-30 containers per hour against only 10-12 containers handled by the port operators earlier.

After commissioning the private operator, the average daily handling of containers increased to 700-750 from previous 450-500 containers by the port operators.

There are also allegations that port operators used to charge Tk 100-150 as kickbacks for handling each container.

Earlier, two vessels used to berth at the container jetty at a time but now the number increased to three. The private operation also helped reduce the turn around time of feeders calling at CCT.

But the sudden stoppage of QGC operation at CCT caused the feeder operators heavy losses. The twelve gearless feeder vessels that call at Chittagong port cannot be served unless the gantry cranes begin operation.

It is feared that the export and import activities will be badly affected if operation of gantry cranes is not resumed soon.

As of yesterday afternoon, around 50 ships were in the queue at the outer anchorage for berthing at the port. Of those, 18 are container carriers and 32 general cargoes. Eight ships were at different jetties.

Meanwhile, the CPA will have to pay huge amount as compensation if agreement with the private operator is cancelled, sources said.