C T Online Desk: Due to some specific reasons, the traffic of cargo ships centered at Chittagong port has decreased significantly recently. As a result of which the jetty of the port is seen to be empty almost of the time. In this, the workers engaged in the work of lifting goods from the ship are unemployed and living a miserable life.
The crisis is becoming more pronounced as the number of container ships has declined significantly, particularly in the port’s general cargo berths. In order to solve this, it has been decided to give berthing to GCB at a reasonable rate to the container ships allocated for berthing in CCT and NCT of the port.
On February 12, in a meeting with Chittagong Port Chairman, Berth Operator, Ship Handling Operator and Terminal Operator Owners Association, it was decided to allocate container ships at a reasonable rate after listening to various problems. However, it was also informed about its implementation after approval in the board meeting of the port.
Fazle Ikram Chowdhury, President of Berth Operators, Ship Handling Operators and Terminal Operators Owners Association, said that due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the recession in the global economy and the dollar crisis in the country, imports have decreased significantly. This has also reduced the arrival of ships centered at Chittagong port. As a result, sometimes 1/2 ships are getting berthing in 6 container jetty of general cargo berth of Chittagong port.
This has made it impossible for the berth operators to meet the wages of workers, salaries of employees and other expenses. In this, the life of the workers is difficult. As this situation has been going on for the past few months, there is frustration among the workers, and there are fears of labor unrest. Therefore, it is necessary to provide berthing of container ships at the same rate as in GCB as in CCT and NCT of the port.
