The Chittagong port experienced a 5.36 per cent year-on-year growth in container handling in the just concluded 2023-24 fiscal year.
According to data published by the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA), the port handled 31.69 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in FY ’24, comprising import, export, and empty ones, an increase from 30.07 lakh TEUs the previous fiscal year.
According to CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk, the statistic was calculated by adding up the number of containers loaded and unloaded at the port’s main jetties, the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Keraniganj and the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot in Dhaka.
The overall increase in cargo and container handling in the previous fiscal year demonstrates the growth of foreign trade in Bangladesh, which has overcome the slump caused by global economic uncertainty amidst the Russia-Ukraine war, he said.
Different sorts of commercial items, commodities, machinery, chemical products, and raw materials from all industries except cement and ceramics are imported through containers, while export goods are only transported by containers.
The port’s overall cargo handling, both containerised and bulk, increased by 4.18 per cent year on year in the fiscal year 2023-24. The port handled a record-high 12.32 crore tonnes of cargo in 2023-24, up from 11.83 crore tonnes in the previous year.
The authority is making continuous efforts to enhance the port’s capacity and efficiency by expanding yard and equipment facilities, the CPA secretary said. The port’s container storage capacity has been enhanced, and new equipment is being installed, he said.
The port’s container handling fell 7.62 per cent year on year in 2022-23, while it handled a record-high 32.55 lakh TEUs in 2021-22, representing a 5.11 per cent year-on-year increase.
Container handling grew 3.1% year on year in 2020-21, compared to 2.92 per cent in 2019-20 and 3.9 per cent in 2018-19.
Container volume handled in 2020-21 was 30.97 lakh TEUs, compared to 30.04 lakh TEUs in 2019-20 and 29.19 lakh TEUs in 2018-19.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
