Ctg port ends year at 3m TEU club despite fall in container handling

Chattogram port, the prime seaport of the country, has managed to end the year 2022 in the three-million-TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent) club despite a fall of inbound-outbound cargo due to import curbs on luxury goods and global trade disruptions.

While the port handled some 74,500 fewer TEUs in 2022 than in the previous year, ship handling increased by 3.10% – 4,344 inbound ships from 4,209 ships in 2021.

As of 29 December this year, the port handled 31.24 lakh TEUs or 3.12 million TEUs containers, including container handling volumes at the Kamalapur ICD (Inland Container Depot) and the Pangaon ICT (Inland Container Terminal). Another 16,000 TEUs were expected to be handled in the last two days of the year to 3.14 million TEUs, according to the port authority.

“Container handling dropped in other ports in the world as well due to the global economic slowdown,” Chattogram Port Authority Secretary Omar Faruq told The Business Standard.

For the first time, Chattogram port entered the “three-million-TEU club” in 2019. The port could not maintain the achievement the next year due to the Covid fallout. In 2020, Chattogram port handled around 28 lakh TEUs of containers.

This drove the port’s ranking to 67th in 2020 from previous year’s 58th in Lloyd’s List – the oldest journal on ports and shipping.

As the pandemic waned subsequently, Chattogram port logged the highest 32 lakh TEUs container handling record in 2021. As a result, Chattogram port’s position in Lloyd’s List moved up by four notches to 63rd in 2021.

Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam told TBS that the banks are not able to provide LCs as per demand.

“As a result, the import volume has decreased compared to last year. This has affected the container handling at the port,” he added.
Chittagong port handles around 4,000 ships annually, as it is responsible for around 92% of the country’s external trade.