Floating containers yet to be recovered from Bay
Imported goods that fell off the container vessel KSL Gladiator into the Bay of Bengal on Sunday morning are yet to be retrieved as rough seas halted search operation.
The goods tumbled out of the container vessel while en route to Summit Alliance Port Limited’s inland water container terminal in Narayanganj and Pangaon container terminal in Keraniganj on Saturday night.
The vessel faced turbulent waters and 43 of the 83 containers on board fell out, according to SM Shah Alam, director of Karim Shipping Lines, its owning firm.
“We immediately sent two of our vessels to the spot.” With the help of four to five country boats the vessels managed to keep almost 40 of the containers floating together until Sunday evening. “But later the sea became so rough that the two vessels had to move to a safer place,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) yesterday sent a vessel to identify the containers and mark the area in order to keep the channel clear for cargo vessel movement through the inland water route.
Some 15 containers floating near Sandwip Banglabazar ghat have been identified, according to BIWTA Chattogram Deputy Director Mohammad Selim.
The BIWTA official said they issued a letter to the ship’s owning firm for recovering the containers within 15 days.
Interport Maritime, representative of the ship owner’s international protection and indemnity club that provides liability coverage for the ship, yesterday appointed Chattogram-based salvage firm Genuine Enterprise for searching the containers but the firm failed to send any search ship due to the rough sea.
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