Rain slows Ctg port

Incessant rains over the last three days have disrupted the unloading of imported goods from large cargo vessels at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port.

Some 26 cargo vessels with imported items such as fertiliser, raw sugar, soya seed, wheat, cement clinkers, ball clays and other goods were waiting at the outer anchorage of the port since Thursday.

Rains made work almost impossible on Friday, said Rafiqul Islam, a representative of Prestige Corporation Ltd, a cargo handler.

The Basundhara-6 cargo vessel arrived at outer anchorage on July 21 with 24,000 tonnes of slag, a raw material for cement factory. So far it could only unload 4,400 tonnes of the cargo in two days before rains disrupted work, he said.

About 49 lighter vessels were booked for unloading goods from nine cargo vessels in the last three days, but work slowed down to a trickle, said Mahbub Rashid, executive director of Water Transport Cell (WTC).

WTC is a private organisation that coordinates schedules of lighter vessels for unloading imported goods from cargo vessels at the outer anchorage.

The weather office at Patenga recorded 250mm rains in the 24 hours to 12pm yesterday. Even some industrialists that use their own vessels to unload their imports have not been able to do so, a port official said.