Bangla shipping agents stops berthing cargo vessels at port

Chittagong: The Chittagong Port’s outer anchorage is clogged with logjam of vessels as shipping agents are agitating against the imposition of extra charges for newly installed gantry crane services, port sources said.

About 10 cargo vessels including four feeder container ships could not enter the port jetties as shipping agents suspended the booking for berthing of ships from Friday, they added.

The Chittagong Port Authority Chairman, Shahadat Hossainsaid that the shipping agents should be held responsible for the standoff at the country’s premier port as he alleged that the agents unilaterally stopped the berthing of vessels without discussing their demands with port authority.

‘Even they had boycotted the commissioning ceremony of the gantry cranes’ he said.

‘The shipping agents want to realise their demands by holding the port as hostage instead of sitting across the table. This is not a good sign and it will be a bad precedence,’ the CPA Chairman said.

He said the shipping agents should stop their movement at first and then the port authorities would agree to sit with them to sort out their demands. ‘Otherwise, it will be difficult to resolve the issue,’ he cautioned.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association said they launched the movement and stopped berthing as the port authorities and other concerned bodies did not respond to their calls for holding discussion on the issue of extra charges for gantry crane services.

They said decision was taken to stop operational works in the feeder ships now staying at the port jetties from 8:00 pm on February 5, if no response to their demands were met within that time.

The Association even threatened to stop cargo handling operations of Chittagong Port from 8:00 pm on February 6, if their demand for withdrawal of additional gantry crane charges remains unheeded.

The Bangladesh Shippers Council Chairman, Mahbub Ali, expressed grave concern over the stalemate at the Chittagong Port.

‘The stalemate here will not only affect the image of our port, it will also pound a blow to our export-oriented readymade garment industry, which is now facing stiff competition in the global market,’ he said.

Earlier, 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 cut in the additional charges, but the agents rejected it.

The association demanded operation of those cranes without any extra charge at least for six months.