Chtg Port cry hoarse as IMB dubbed it 'most dangerous'

Chittagong: Chittagong port authority blasted International Maritime Bureau for releasing a report on Wednesday branding Chittagong Port as the ‘world’s most dangerous port’ plagued by piracy.


‘The IMB report on Chittagong Port is totally false and misleading. It is just making propaganda against our port to tarnish its image,’ said the chairman of CPA, Shahadat Hossain.


Quoting IMB, Agence France-Presse from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday reported Chittagong in Bangladesh was now the ‘world’s most dangerous port,’ with a rise in piracy there and in some other key hotspots, though piracy declined globally this year.


The maritime watchdog claimed there were 33 incidents in Bangladesh, mostly near the main port of Chittagong, ‘resulting in it being accorded the title of the world’s most dangerous port’.


The bureau recorded 174 attacks on the high seas in the first nine months of 2006, compared to 205 in the same period last year. Six crew members were killed and 20 kidnapped, while 113 ships were boarded.


‘The reduction in attacks is welcome. Credit for this must go to the law enforcement agencies responding to the attacks in high-risk areas,’ it said in a statement.


The port chairman said they would register strong protests against the bureau for releasing such a report at a time when incidents of piracy have already declined and the situation remains under control.


‘We took a lot of steps to curb piracy and our coastguards successfully controlled it with massive drive,’ he said, terming the report ‘motivated.’


‘We provided the coastguards with two special high-powered boats for patrolling Chittagong Port channel and its outer anchorage to curb piracy. We planned to give them two more patrol boats shortly for stepping up surveillance in the sea,’ he added.


CPA chairman informed that very few incidents of piracy had taken place this year as against more than 50 incidents recorded yearly on an average in the past.


The bureau also expressed satisfaction over the measures taken by Bangladesh’s port authorities to curb piracy.


‘Attempts have been made to deal with the problem in Bangladesh, notably a recent joint coast guard and navy operation to capture pirates in the Bay of Bengal,’ it said.


The IMB said the operation involved 17 naval vessels and 3,000 coast guard personnel who sought to clear pirate-infested areas of the bay and stop pirates using them to shelter from the authorities.


It also singled out Nigeria, and said attacks there had been particularly violent, often with the use of guns and knives and involving large groups of pirates, including 40 in one attack on a vessel.


Though Indonesia has succeeded in reducing piracy in its waters to 40 such incidents this year from 61 a year back, the watchdog ranked the country’s port as ‘the world’s hottest piracy hot spots.’