FCL cargo handling outside Chattogram port to reduce turnaround time

The turnaround time of container ships at the Chattogram port will come down from one-third to a half if the customs clearance for containers and other post-shipment process for full container load (FCL) cargo take place outside the port areas.

The measures will reduce congestion at the port and make port services more dynamic.

Sources said if all FCL cargoes are unstuffed outside the port, it will help deal with more than one million Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEUS) containers using the existing port infrastructure.

The Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) and major port communities have long cherished the idea, but lack of adequate infrastructure is a bar.

Although an absence of preparation on the part of customs authority is seen as one of the reasons behind non-progress, the officials of Customs House, Chattogram, said in fact no initiative has yet been taken in this regard.

Mohammad Nasir Uddin, chief personal officer and acting secretary to CPA, said: “We are always requesting various government departments, especially the Ministry of Shipping and the Customs Department, to make arrangements for unstuffing all FCL cargoes outside the ports.”

The Chattogram port now handles more than 3.2 million TEUs containers a year, consisting of basically two types of containers.

FCL accounts for 95 per cent while Less Container Load (LCL) cargo 5 per cent only.

The container yard of Ctg port has a capacity of about 50,000 TEUS.

Sources at the port’s Traffic Department said LCL cargoes belong to several owners at a time. That is why tariffs can be levied inside the ports, but since an FCL cargo belongs to a sole proprietor, it can easily be cleared outside the port vicinity.

If FCL cargo is levied outside the port, the port will be able to handle at least one million more TEUS containers in addition to the current 3.2 million TEUs containers.

Among the container goods, 36 types of goods are taken directly from the ship to the Inland Container Depot (ICDs) and unstuffed there. In addition, 100 per cent of exported products are stuffed in ICDs.

Due to an acute congestion in the port, the authorities sometimes allow ICDs to handle all types of imported containers for a limited period.

Customs House Chattogram Commissioner Fakhrul Alam told The Business Post there is demand for FCL cargo unstuffing outside the port from various quarters, but there is also lack of effective initiatives in this regard.

The Ministry of Shipping and the National Board of Revenue have to take decision on the issue, he added.

Port and ICD sources said of the 3.2 million containers handled annually at the port, 1.2 million TEUs are import containers, .4 million are export containers and the rest are empty containers.

Of the 1.2 million TEUs import containers, 23 per cent goes to ICD, over 60 per cent is unstuffed in Dhaka ICD, and around 20 per cent are unstuffed at bonded warehouses.

The rest of the containers are opened at the port yard and the importers take their goods in trucks or covered vans. That’s why a significant portion of the port yard is always occupied.

All types of ports in the world do not customize or make a direct delivery of goods from their yards, only Ctg port does it, said Sayed Mohammaed Arif, president, Bangladesh Shipping Lines Association.

“This slows down the productivity of the port, increases the turnaround time of the ship and sometimes creates extreme clutter.”

If all types of containers are sent out of the port area, the turnaround time of container ships, in particular, will be reduced from one-third to a half. But in present reality, it is not possible, he added.

Space shortage at the Ctg port paved the way for private ICDs in the country in 2000. The private ICDs can store 78,700 TEUs containers. Last year, the port handled about 32 lakh TEUs in which the ICD handled .71 million TEUs import containers and .4 million TEUS export containers. The overall growth is about 13 per cent compared to the year before.

As the import-export volume increased over the years, the need for more ICDs became apparent. At a meeting last year, CPA officials suggested doubling the number of private ICDs.

Ruhul Amin Sikder Biplob, secretary, Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, said at present the ICDs are trying their best and a few more ICDs will come into operation.