The Chittagong Port earned Tk 1643.85 crore in the last four months of the 2024-25 financial year, registering 21.85 percent increase in revenue compared to the same period of the last fiscal.
Rear Admiral SM Moniruzzaman, Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority (CAP), made the disclosure at a press conference at Shaheed Mohammad Fazlur Rahman Munshi Auditorium on Tuesday
Efforts are on to further boost revenue by cutting unnecessary expenses while maintaining quality service at the port, he said adding that the CPA is investing only in state-owned banks to avoid risks.
The CPA chairman said in the last three months, 830,582 TEUs of containers were handled at Chittagong Port, which is 76,986 TEUs or 9.016 percent higher than the same period of the last fiscal.
A growth of about 10.22 percent has been achieved in container handling during the period.
He said the instability of global economy and high inflation caused by Covid pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and the subsequent Middle East crisis are also being reflected in Bangladesh economy.
Despite this adverse situation, the CPA maintained the continuity of cargo and container handling through its skills and experience. The average waiting time of ships has been reduced.
On July 16, there were 45.5 thousand containers at Chittagong Port, meaning that about 85 percent of the total capacity of the port was occupied. In the last three months, it has been reduced to 34 thousand through systematic innovations. Currently, the average waiting time for ships has come down from 6 to 8 days to one day. Ships are getting on-arrival berthing after arriving at the port.
The CPA chairman said if there are enough containers for imported goods, the owners may operate regular ships on Karachi-Chittagong route in the future. However, Bangladeshi goods used to be imported and exported through Singapore and Colombo ports with Pakistan. With the launch of the new route, a new horizon has opened in the field of Bangladeshi import and export. This will create new dynamics in the import and export trade of both countries at an affordable cost and time. For the first time, a ship under the HR Shipping Line arrived in Chittagong on November 11 through a liner service from Karachi port. The container was unloaded and left Chittagong on November 12. The ship originally started its journey from Jebel Ali Port in Dubai and arrived in Chittagong via Karachi Port.
The general routing of the ship is Dubai Jebel Ali- Karachi-Chittagong- Indonesia- Malaysia- Munda (India)-Dubai.
CPA Member (Administration and Planning) Md. Habibur Rahman, Member (Harbor and Marine) Commodore M. Fazlar Rahman, Member (Finance) Mohammad Shahidul Alam, Member (Engineering) Commodore Kawsar Rashid and senior port officials were present at the press conference.
