Thursday, April 23rd, 2009The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) suspended vessel operations to and from the port since Tuesday night following capsize of a cement-clinker laden vessel in the estuary of river Karnaphuli.Port sources said only the lighter vessels were allowed to ply on a limited scale from 5:00pm yesterday and normalcy may return to the port today.“As we understand that the river mouth became virtually blocked because of the sunken ship, we have decided to suspend operations of vessels as a precautionary measure since Tuesday night until further notice,” CPA Chairman Commodore RU Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.The MV Seven Circle-25 sank ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 12th, 2007At least 84 people were killed and hundreds more injured and missing as torrential rains sparked a series of devastating landslides in Chittagong , plunging the country's second city into chaos, with power supplies snapped, the port and airport closed and residents seeking safety on their roofs.The heaviest rainfall in quarter of a century saturated the hillsides in and around the city giving residents no chance to escape when a tide of mud and water swept down on their homes in the early hours of yesterday morning, burying whole families under mud and debris while they slept. The powerful current ...
(read more) Wednesday, April 25th, 2007The government plans to appoint private firms for ship handling at Chittagong port in a bid to expedite the current pace of goods loading and unloading.The Chittagong Port authority (CPA) has sent a proposal recently to the shipping ministry, which has already forwarded it to the law ministry for vetting, sources said.The law ministry has sought opinions from senior lawyers in this connection, sources added.The companies would be selected through a competitive process for working on contract basis.The CPA proposal also includes dissolution of Dockworkers' Management Board and appointment of private companies for maintenance of port's equipment.The ...
(read more) Sunday, April 1st, 2007Some local ship building companies are receiving orders worth millions of dollars from foreign buyers for large ocean-going ships as they are diverting orders from developed East Asian countries to labour intensive developing countries like Bangladesh.Ship building industry sources said since countries like South Korea and Singapore are becoming less interested in building such ships, European buyers are now coming to Bangladesh, China and India.Bangladesh can be a major builder of large ocean-going ships if the government allows duty free import of steel, the basic raw material for ship building industry, they say.Duty free import of steel can be ...
(read more) Sunday, April 1st, 2007As the seventh meeting of the Forum for Regional Cooperation among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) began in Dhaka yesterday, speakers at its inaugural session emphasised that transport connectivity among the member countries is crucial for economic exchanges.They also said when improved transport connectivity will be in place, Chittagong Port will become a commercial hub for the region, as the Bay of Bengal will become more accessible to the BCIM member countries for transporting their exports through the port.The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) is organising the two-day meeting of BCIM Forum focusing on further strengthening the regional economic ...
(read more) Sunday, March 11th, 2007The performance of Chittagong Port improved significantly after a number of steps were taken by a taskforce formed by the joint forces.The age-old practice of underhand dealings inside the port for container movement has been checked considerably as well.Although bribing of customs officials for customs clearance has stopped, a small number of highly secretive underhand dealings still take place in the port, according to sources.According to sources, the joint forces had formed a taskforce immediately after the declaration of emergency in the country for improving the situation at the port.The task force had a series of meetings with ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007The persisting tussle between foreign and local ship owners is greatly hampering exports making thousands of tonnes of cargo stockpiled at the ports.Around, 21,000 tonnes of raw jute to be exported to Pakistan piled up at Mongla port recently due to conflicts between the two groups of ship owners, according to sources.Foreign flag carrier ships have to take a waiver (no objection certificate) from Bangladesh government before loading any export cargo as the flag vessel protection ordinance 1982 gives priority to local ships to carry goods from the country.Local ships take advantage of this and create obstacles to ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007A mobile court yesterday raided Abul Khair Consumer Products Ltd in Chittagong and seized around 230 tonnes of milk powder to be used as ingredient in its Starship brand condensed milk.The court led by Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Magistrate Munir Chowdhury raided Abul Khair Consumer Products Ltd at Bayezid area, an enterprise of Abul Khair Group, and seized the food items imported from various countries, reports our Chittagong correspondent.Last week, the same magistrate had collected samples of the ingredients and sent those to Bangladesh Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) for laboratory tests.As the samples turned out to be ...
(read more) Monday, February 19th, 2007The authorities yesterday seized around 1,065 tonnes of poisonous ghee, imported 25 years ago, from Chittagong Port and sent the consignment to Eastern Refinery to destroy it. Around 15 tonnes of the inedible ghee were burnt yesterday on recommendation of a high-level committee.Joint forces and senior officials witnessed the burning of the ghee.According to an UNB report, some 23 importers had imported 2,500 tonnes of inedible ghee from Australia in 1982. Of that, 1,065 tonnes had been kept in the port shed and the rest in warehouses of different financing banks.The customs officials did not release the consignments upon ...
(read more) Saturday, February 17th, 2007Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus yesterday stressed the need for setting up a mega seaport, a mega airport and a transnational highway to speed up the wheel of economy and to materialise 'the dream of the people'."We have a lot of prospects and much less problems than many others and we only need to shrug off the narrowness of minds and widen the horizon of thoughts to build Bangladesh as we dreamt," said the Nobel laureate.Dr Yunus was addressing a reception accorded to him during a daylong programme organised by Nobeljoyi Muhammad Yunus Sangbardhana Parishad in MA Aziz Stadium in ...
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