Normalcy returns to Ctg port

Normalcy returned to Chittagong port yesterday afternoon after loading, unloading and delivery of goods were disrupted for around 36 hours for an unannounced transport strike.

Different operations had started coming to a halt since 12:00am on Sunday for a dearth of transport.

It suspended direct delivery of bulk cargo from ships to general cargo jetties and slowed down container handling at jetties, delivery of import-laden containers and transport of import and export-laden containers between the port and private inland container depots (ICDs). A total of 1,698 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export-laden containers could not be taken from the private ICDs and loaded onto designated vessels.

A majority of these containers may not be able to reach mother vessels from transhipment ports, said Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA).

Around 2,500 TEUs of import-laden containers could not be taken from the port to different ICDs, which must have added to the container congestion inside the port, he said.

Unloading and delivery of bulk cargo from three ships at three jetties of general cargo berth area remained suspended till yesterday morning.

The delivery started partially on Sunday evening and continued for a few hours when 361 TEUs of containers were delivered from the port. It got halted again that night as transport workers stopped working following vandalism at their office near the port around 9pm.

A group of locals swooped on the office of Prime Movers Trailers Workers' Union in Saltgola area around 8pm on Sunday accusing the workers of damaging a vehicle owned by a local resident, said a leader of the workers.

This prompted workers to stop running container-carrying trailers and prime-movers inside the port yards.

Containers are usually kept on these trailers after being unloaded from ships at the jetties before being taken to different yards.

Though such container handling went on for some time during the day on Sunday, it came to a halt at night after the workers stopped operations. Afterwards, container handling at the port came to a complete halt.

With a countrywide transport strike being withdrawn yesterday morning, bulk cargo delivery, including that from the three ships, started at 8am. Md Selim Uddin, supervisor of jetty 5, said they started working after several trucks entered in the morning.  

The workers of prime movers and trailers joined work at noon on getting assurance from Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials that the issue of the attack would be resolved.

Abu Bakar Siddique, general secretary of Prime Movers Trailers Workers Union, said the CPA director (traffic) at a meeting in the morning assured them of solving the issue and after that they started working. CPA Director Golam Sarwar said all operations have gradually started and the port officials and workers were trying to bring back normalcy.