Shipping agents to resist berthing of cargo vessels at Chtg Port

Chittagong: The Shipping Agents Association of Bangladesh will resist berthing of cargo vessels in the Chittagong Port from tomorrow to press home its demand for withdrawal of extra charges on the newly commissioned gantry cranes.

‘No cargo ship will be allowed to enter the port jetties from February 3,’ the association chairman, Pervez Sazzad Akter said after an Association meeting held at its office Wednesday afternoon.

The Association was compelled to take the decision as the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to its demand for not imposing the extra charges for at least for six months, he said. ‘We will sit again on Thursday and may announce tougher programmes.’

Shipping agents have refrained from using the four sophisticated rail mounted gantry cranes since their commissioning on Monday, protesting the extra charges. The cranes have been installed at the container terminal to speed up the port activities.

The Association claimed that container handling cost would go up by Tk 30 crore a year with the imposition of the extra charges.

The Shipping Minister, Akbar Hossain, in an unscheduled meeting with the shipping agents before the commissioning of the cranes on Monday, offered a 50 per cent reduction in the additional charges, but the agents rejected it.

Demanding operation of the cranes without any extra charge for at least six months, the association president said, ’If we find that the turnaround period of ship has come down significantly, we will pay additional charges through negotiations with the Chittagong Port Authority.’

‘If we do not get any benefit even after the installation of the cranes, why should we pay extra charges for it?’ he questioned.