Container vessels must sail out within 48 hours
Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) has aggravated shipping agents, directing that container vessels irrespective of carrying capacities from today must sail out from the port jetties within 48 hours on completing unloading and loading of containers.
No vessel arriving with less than 1,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of import-laden containers will be allowed berthing at the port jetties, the CPA said yesterday.
Currently geared vessels, meaning those having on-board cranes, are allowed 72 hours for completing the job while gearless ones up to 48 hours.
The CPA decisions are "not feasible", said Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association (BSAA) leaders while deciding to sit with the port chairman this morning to discuss the issue.
The CPA terminal officials gave the directives to shipping agents verbally at a berthing meeting in the morning.
The shipping agents protested and sought to boycott the meeting but was dissuaded by the BSAA leaders.
Contacted, CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk said he was not aware about any such decision.
He said it may be a proposal from the CPA officials to the shipping agents.
Sources said the CPA was taking the decision to reduce vessel congestion ahead of upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Officials of different shipping agents said if such decisions were imposed, most vessels would be forced to leave behind export-laden containers and face huge losses.
A shipping agent official said it was possible for gearless vessels arriving with 900 TEUs to 1,000 TEUs of import-laden containers to leave within the said time.
But even if a gearless vessel comes with over 1,500 TEUs of import-laden containers, it will be difficult for it to complete unloading and loading containers within that time, he said.
And for geared vessels, it was too difficult since those need much time in discharging the import-laden containers due to a current scarcity of space inside the port yards, he said.
As of yesterday morning, 37,259 TEUs of goods-laden containers were lying at the port occupying over 92 per cent of the designated space for such containers.
The scarcity of space is hampering smooth and timely discharge of import-laden containers from the vessels, said the shipping agents.
Contacted, BSAA Chairman Syed Md Arif said the decision of limiting stay times at jetties to 48 hours was not feasible at all.
If the vessels are forced to leave within the said time, most will have to leave without taking the expected number of export-laden containers and eventually they will face a lot of financial losses, he said.
The CPA should not take such a decision all of a sudden without discussing the issue with stakeholders and without giving time to adapt to the shift, he said.
Regarding the size-based berthing restriction, Arif said vessels usually arrive loaded with containers and if a vessel has to carry over 1,500 TEUs, its draft would be more than 10 metres.
The port cannot accommodate such levels of draft in its jetties, he said.
He said they would convey the challenges to the CPA chairman in today's meeting.
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