As Bangladesh approaches the nine-day Eid festival holiday on Friday, Chittagong seaport is expected to see severe container and vessel congestion in its yards. Some ships had already been waiting for four to five days to berth at the port prior to the closure. Today, 13 containerships waited at the outer anchorage, and the yards contained over 42,000 teu of containers, totalling 49,018 teu of storage capacity.
Fearing the congestion will be significant, the government has decided to keep non-essential goods carried by truck off the highways for three days before Eid-ul-Fitr to facilitate travel to the countryside. Chittagong port officials said that during the holiday period, the unloading of containers from ships will continue, except on Eid Day, when there will be an eight-hour break. The port usually receives more than 4,000 teu a day. However, shipping lines fear that most deliveries from port yards will be suspended during the holiday, as almost no truck drivers will be available. Freight forwarders, shipping agents, bank officials and other stakeholders are also likely to be unavailable.
