Another privately built jetty has come to the aid of the Chattogram port as it allowed the country’s largest seaport to use the facility to berth bulk vessels carrying heavy items.
Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd completed the construction of the jetty for the ship repairing works of its sister concern, Karnaphuli Dry Dock, in Anwara upazila last month.
A bulk vessel, Giulia-1, carrying 23,000 tonnes of scrap, imported by steel manufacturer BSRM Group, berthed at the jetty on July 28 and started unloading goods.
This was the second jetty of the private dry dock after it built the first one in March this year. The CPA has been using it since March 30.
CPA Chairman M Shahjahan said it gave the permission to Karnaphuli Dry Dock to build the jetties on condition that the port would use them when they were vacant.
“We are now using both jetties. As a result, we have been able to accommodate two additional vessels.”
Ships, particularly bulk vessels arriving with scraps for steel industries, have to wait for days at the outer anchorage due to a lack of jetties.
In most cases, ships laden with scraps have to unload all of their cargoes at the outer anchorage with the help of lighter vessels. As a result, importers have to bear additional costs to hire the smaller vessels. The unloading also takes time.
“The two jetties have come as a relief since they are helping us accommodate two bulk vessels with scraps simultaneously,” said CPA Director (Traffic) Enamul Karim.
Currently, the CPA can allocate a maximum of seven jetties of its general cargo berths (GCBs) to accommodate six bulk vessels. The rest 12 jetties are dedicated to handling container vessels.
The CPA is even unwilling to allow the bulk vessels transporting heavy items to use the GCB jetties as they have become old. It has not allowed scrap-carrying ships to berth at the port since July 1.
So far, eight vessels have berthed at the first jetty of Karnaphuli Dry Dock since March 30. Around 1.50 lakh tonnes of scraps have so far been unloaded.
Both jetties can accommodate two ships with a length of up to 180 metres each, said M Abdur Rashid, managing director of Karnaphuli Ship Builders.
“The port can now reduce vessels’ waiting time and generate revenues using our jetties,” he said.
He said the link road from the jetties to Chaturi, Anwara via Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Ltd needed to be widened and renovated to allow trucks to ply while carrying imported goods.
Giulia-1, with 33,000 tonnes of scrap, arrived at the outer anchorage in the middle of July. After unloading around 10,000 tonnes of goods to smaller lighter vessels there, it got berthed at the second jetty of Karnaphuli Dry Dock.
The unloading from the vessel would be complete by August 8, said Asif Iftekhar Hossain, director of Everett Bangladesh (Pvt) Ltd, the local agent of the ship.
Source : The Daily Star
