In an effort to boost container handling capacity, Bangladesh’s principal sea port, the Chittagong Port has recently inducted three new gantry cranes.
“It currently takes 72 to 96 hours to complete container handling of vessels with 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units capacity,” said Chairman of Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association Ahsanul Huq Chowdhury, adding, “The new cranes will reduce the time to 48 hours if they are provided with enough space in the port yards.”
The three new cranes are reportedly part of six cranes that the port authority had procured last year from Chinese company Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Ltd. The remaining three are expected to arrive in a couple of months.
Currently, four such cranes are in operation at two jetties of Chittagong Container Terminal.
It may be mentioned here Chittagong Port was recently in the news due to container congestion following a flash transport strike that severely hampered delivery and transfer of containers to inland container depots (ICDs).
“The transport crisis has created the congestion, which is now hampering handling of containers at the port yards,” reportedly maintained the Chairman of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, Ahsanul Hoque Chowdhury, while speaking to the media.
