Pangaon terminal takes off in July
The Pangaon Container Terminal, tipped to play a significant role in reducing traffic congestion on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, will start operations next month, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said.
“The Pangaon Container Terminal is now ready, so we have decided to inaugurate it in July,” he said.
The terminal sited in Keraniganj is expected to reduce traffic congestion on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway by 30-35 percent, said Syed Farhad Uddin Ahmed, secretary of Chittagong Port Authority.
“The cargo that will come through the vessel will not only be secure, they will reach their destination in lower costs.”
Moreover, the terminal is expected to be of great help during the hartal days, according to SM Mannan Kochi, second vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
“We will get to bring in containers even during hartal hours from Chittagong, something we cannot do at present by road.”
Forty-one vessels with the highest capacity of 140 TEUs will be purchased through government and private initiatives to transport the cargo on the Chittagong-Pangaon route, according to Khan.
The vessels will come from private business firms, Bangladesh Navy, the Chittagong Port Authority and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation, he said.
The fare and other charges for the vessels are yet to be fixed though, he said. “A government committee is working on it and I expect it to be finalised before the
inauguration.”
Kochi said if the fare and charges could be set at Tk 7,000-8,000 it would benefit the business community much. They now have pay Tk 15,000-22,000 for a truck to transport goods to-and-from the Chittagong port, he added.
The terminal, which cost Tk 177.5 crore, will have the capacity to contain 2,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) containers at a time, and be able to load and unload 116,000 TEUs a year, said Mozibur Rahaman Sarkar, director of the project.
The project started off in 2005, with the Bureau of Research Testing and Consultation of BUET serving as the consultant.
The Chittagong port delivers nearly 1,400 TEUs to Dhaka and Narayanganj, with 90 percent sent through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway and the rest by train, Sarkar said.
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