Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury is opposing the operation of sophisticated gantry cranes by the private operators while the shipping agents are strongly in favour of the private operators' conducting the task.

Mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury in a letter to the port chairman yesterday threatened to stop all activities at the port if the agreement with Saif Powertec Limited is not cancelled.

The mayor also urged the port authorities to start operation at the CCT with the help of the port's own operators within 12 hours, sources said.

Earlier, the Shipping Agents Association threatened to launch tougher agitation programme if the CCT does not resume operation within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, private company Saif Powertec Limited that earlier threatened of taking legal actions said they would demand around Tk 25 crore as compensation if the agreement with them is cancelled due to CPA's faults, sources said.

The private company has already served a notice demanding Tk 50 lakh for halting operating of the cranes for five days during suspension of the Awami League-led 14-party combine's blockade programme.

It will demand Tk 10 lakh as compensation for per day work stoppage.

The CPA installed four sophisticated gantry cranes at the cost of Tk 150 crore in January this year and later appointed Saif Powertec Limited to operate the cranes.

The dockworkers loyal to the city mayor have kept the CCT besieged since November 12 demanding cancellation of the 'controversial' agreement with the private company.

They alleged that the job of container handling was awarded to the company without following rules and regulations.

The company charged Tk 470 for handling each container whereas the port earlier handled the cranes with its own operators without spending any extra money, they said.

After getting the letter from the city mayor, port Chairman Moslehuddin held a closed door meeting with the CPA high officials in the afternoon.

They discussed the latest development and tried to evolve a solution to the crisis, sources said, adding that the CPA may take a decision to resume operation at the CCT without operation of the gantry cranes while not cancelling the agreement with the private company.

According to the decision the port would start operating the CCT through anchoring ships that have their own cranes while the gearless ships (ships without cranes) that have been anchoring at the port for several days would be removed from the jetty.

Two large gearless ships that cannot operate without gantry cranes are anchored at the jetty and seven other gearless ships have been waiting at the outer anchorage for weeks.

There are around 6,000 containers full of import cargo in those ships and if the gearless ships are removed from the jetty and asked to go back, the importers will suffer huge losses, sources said.

The containers will have to be discharged at Singapore or Colombo port and then again loaded in a ship with gear. It will cost at least $4,000 to 5000 per container, the source added.

It is feared that such a situation may lead to boycott of Chittagong port by the gearless vessels.

The loading and unloading at the general terminal took place yesterday in a limited scale amid tough agitation outside as the 14-party combine has enforced countrywide rail, road and port blockade programme for realisation of their 11-point demand.

The agitators did not allow any cargo to go inside the port or coming out from the port yard.

The activities at Mongla seaport and all the land ports also came to a standstill due to the blockade programme. Cargo handling at the ports took place in a limited scale but the delivery from the port yard was completely stopped.