Empty containers pile up in Ctg port

Empty containers have piled up in Chittagong port, nearly reaching its maximum capacity, during the last one month, threatening to create congestion and slow down the port's activities.
Berth operators, shipping executives and the port officials said the 16 private inland container depots of the port were not timely hauling away these containers.
After the containers are emptied in the port, the inland container depots take them away to their respective storage facilities, situated around Chittagong, and rent those out from time to time on behalf of the containers' owners, the shipping lines.
The port has the space to accommodate 4,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) empty containers. As of yesterday, the port had 4,485 empty containers.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Secretary Syed Farhad Uddin Ahmed said the pile up has not been decreasing although they increased the daily rent for the space to keep one container to US $24 from US $6 on May 16.
The inland container depots charge the container owners Tk 50 to Tk 55 to store an empty container for a day.
Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association, said the 16 inland container depots have the capacity to store around 20,000 to 22,000 empty containers.
Currently, the inland container depots are housing around 32,000 empty containers and that is why the empty containers could not be removed from the port, he said.
Sikder said frequent hartals in recent months and inclement weather disrupted the activities of the port and timely removal of the empty containers.
Fazle Ekram Chowdhury, a leading berth operator, fears that the pile up would soon lead to serious container congestion in the port and slow down its activities.