The country’s first inland container terminal at Pangaon that was inaugurated last week is yet to go into full operation, mostly due to some administrative issues, disappointing business people who had hoped to avail of the facility to transport goods by water, particularly during hartals.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday inaugurated the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal on the bank of the Buriganga River in Keraniganj near the capital.
The new terminal is expected to ease the pressure of goods movement on the busy Dhaka-Chittagong railway and highway routes through transporting cargo on waterways.
Also on Thursday, the PM told a business delegation at her office that the government would ensure security of businesses during hartals and take steps for smooth transportation of goods through the Pangaon terminal.
The business leaders had met with Hasina to urge her to sit for a dialogue with the opposition to end the political impasse that is taking a heavy toll on the country’s economy.
Business leaders said there would have been a positive impact if the terminal had started running before the opposition’s latest 84-hour strike began on Sunday, as road transport had been disrupted for the past three days.
Sources at the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) said only 140 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of empty containers have so far been carried to the terminal from the port on a trial basis.
They added that it would take at least one more month for full-fledged operation of the terminal. The terminal has the capacity to store 3,500 TEUs of containers and handle 116,000 TEUs annually. TEU, the size of a standard container, is a unit of cargo capacity.
Meanwhile, three vessels procured to carry containers to and from the terminal were yet to be registered with the Mercantile Marine Department, CPA member M Shahajahan said.
The vessels _ Pangaon Express, Pangaon Success and Pangaon Vision, each with a capacity to carry 180 TEUs of containers were bought from China for Tk450m.
Shahajahan also said charges for using the terminal had not been fixed yet.
“We have already initiated the procedure, and we are optimistic of completing it in one month,” he said.
In the meantime, the authorities have published advertisements urging businesses to carry their goods on waterways.
However, port sources said it would take some more time to switch to carrying cargo on the waterways as importers have to mention the destination of their goods when opening letters of credit (LC).
The sources added that containers currently at the port did not mention Pangaon as a destination in LCs. The importers of the existing containers would have to amend the documents to receive their goods at Pangaon.
Abdul Wahab, a director of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the readymade garment sector would have greatly benefited if the terminal had started its operation before the non-stop hartal began.
“A huge consignment of finished products and raw materials of factories located in Dhaka and its adjoining areas have gotten stuck during this hartal,” Wahab said.
Mahabubul Alam, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they had been optimistic that the terminal would mitigate the difficulties in transporting freight by road during frequent anti-government strikes and blockades.
The Bangladesh Inland Water transport Authority and the Chittagong Port jointly constructed the terminal at a cost of Tk1.54bn.