Container handling at Bangladesh’s prime seaport, Chittagong, fell significantly in September with only 101,493 TEU of import goods laden boxes handled in the month compared to 120,470 TEU in September last year.
At the same time, the handling of export goods laden containers also decreased to 63,803 TEU in September from 75,697 TEU in August and 68,891 TEU in September 2021.
During the month, the port also handled 6,031 TEU of empty import containers and 55,099 TEU of empty export containers.
Officials say the box handling lowered due to the government’s austerity measures and discouraging luxurious imports amid forex reserve crunch following the Russia-Ukraine war.
Export handling fell as demands in the western countries fell, especially apparel demand, as garment makers received less work orders during the last couple of months.
The austerity measure brought down usual average monthly import of US$8 billion to US$6 billion during the last couple of months.
Thus, as vessels come in less number, some jetties of Chittagong port remain idle for some days now. On Tuesday (4 October) only eight container vessels were handled in main jetties while no workable vessels were waiting at the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
