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Bay Terminal and Distribution Company Limited (BTDCL), a venture of well-known industrial group PHP family, started its journey in 1998 to utilise imported liquid bulk bitumen to construct roads, highways, and airport runways.
BTDCL was the ever-first bitumen plant in Bangladesh’s private sector and the pioneer that introduced the culture of using liquid bulk bitumen in road construction projects. This company is a pioneer in using high-quality and environment-friendly bitumen in Bangladesh.
It has since been meeting a significant portion of the total demand for bitumen in the country with an outstanding reputation. The product from this first private bitumen plant is environment-friendly and economical.
Bay Terminal was established as an American-Bangladesh joint venture with the technical support of Chinese company ‘Sinopack’. The American partner provided drawing and layout of the plant, capital equipment, necessary advice, and manpower training.
The use of modern technology since its inception helped the company maintain quality management and supply system.
Officials said Bay Terminal supplied all the bitumen to construct Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport project implemented by Shimizu-Marubeni of Japan. In addition, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, JICA-funded road development projects have been using Bay Terminal bitumen with confidence without any complaints, helping the company earn the trust of the multinational construction firms.
Bay Terminal has also been employing hundreds of people and established itself as a regular taxpayer.
Humayun Kabir, executive director (operations) of Bay Terminal, said, “We are always committed to supplying high-quality bitumen. The products are tested at various stages of import, processing and handling to maintain international standards. Before receiving import consignments, we get a ‘Product Analysis Testimonial’ from a third-party quality inspection agency.”
Samples are collected and tested at the lab of Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) or BUET before receiving the product in the Bay Terminal storage tank. To ensure quality, products are frequently tested at Bay Terminal’s own lab, Kabir added.
He said that several commercial drum importers have been importing drum-filled bitumen for some
time now; but the lab test did not find the standard specification. In this situation, the government issued a permanent order making it mandatory to quality check all imported bitumen shipments before unloading from ships.
Since the issuance of the order, samples of imported bitumen of Bay Terminal have been tested in ERL’s lab before unloading. The customs authorities allowed unloading the bitumen as it passed the quality test.
Uttam Chakma, Assistant Commissioner of Chittagong Customs, is in charge of supervising the imported bitumen. “We clear goods for unloading after receiving legal import documents and Eastern Refinery Lab test result,” he said.
He said the government allsow importers to test samples from multiple institutions to ensure justice. They can have their samples tested at BUET or BSTI labs if they fail ERL lab test. In such cases, decisions can be taken based on the majority results.
He said several companies have recently imported bitumen. Of these, lab tests of three institutions did not meet the standard. So the bitumen of those companies could not be allowed to unload. The bitumen will be destroyed according to the rules.
However, the imported consignments by Bay Terminal have passed the lab test. All customs procedures have been completed and discharged as per rules, Uttam said.
Humayun Kabir said they had been checking the quality of every imported consignment from ERL or BUET even before the government issued the order.
So far, no one has complained about the quality of bitumen imported by Bay Terminal, he added.
Bay Terminal’s Assistant General Manager (marketing) Aminul Haque Abul said they had been importing 60-70 grade bitumen from the beginning.
Considering the climate change issues, the Roads and Highways Department issued an order in 2015 to stop using 80-100 grade bitumen. In the future, like other developing countries, the Bangladesh government may use polymer modified bitumen (PMB) to build improved and sustainable roads.
Bay Terminal has already begun setting up necessary industrial infrastructure for PMB production to meet future demand in the country, said Aminul Haque.
“The PHP Industrial Group, the entrepreneur of Bay Terminal and Distribution Company Limited, has been running its business with dignity and reputation. The PHP family is reputed for being a transparent and accountable business organisation that does not have any allegation of loan default or VAT evasion,” he said.
