Mongla Port to get back to life

Shamim Ashraf Shelley from Khulna


The country’s second seaport Mongla is struggling to get back to life after years of lull due to the negligence and adverse decisions of the past governments.

A number of projects are either in the process of implementation or approval to give the port a new lease of life.

As the first step, the authorities have abolished ‘Dock Shramik Parichalana Board,’ a body seen by port users and employees as one of the major reasons that made the port almost a deserted place over the years.

The port was established in 1950 by the side of Passure river at Chalna area under Dacope upazila in Khulna district. Later in 1954, the port was shifted to Mongla area on around 2000 acres of land under Mongla upazila in Bagerhat district. With a workforce of about 1400, the port has the capacity of handling 65 lakh metric tonnes of goods annually. But only 10 lakh MTs of goods were handled on an average in last few years as the number of ship arrivals dipped to its lowest.

Port officials, workers and users point the finger at infrastructure problems, poor navigability and inefficient handling of goods with obsolete machines that led to drastic fall in ship arrivals over the years.

All the dredging works were completely stopped since 2001 in the port’s channel. As a result, parts of the outer bar channel – about 47 km long from Hiron Point to Fairway Boya — were silted up, preventing the ships from sailing towards the port smoothly. Records show that a number of ships capsized or ran aground in the outer bar channel in last few years.

Besides, about 20 kilometers of the 80-km channel from Hiron Point to Mongla Port have become too narrow and shallow to be navigable. Preserving the depth and width of the channel is badly needed to keep the port active.

Port officials said no money was allocated for dredging since 2001 as the importance of the country’s second seaport was largely ignored during the period of the BNP government. No allocations were there to replace the loading and unloading tools like loader, heavy crane, fork lift, heavy lift, monkey crane, straddle carrier, which expired their economic life long ago. The port could utilize only one-sixth of its handling capacity as shipping lines gradually lost their interest to use the port for external trade.

Vessel arrivals came down to less than a third last year compared to the level of 10 years’ back.

Port records show 355 vessels arrived at the Mongla Port in the 1997-98 fiscal year, while the number dipped to 95 in 2007-08.

FOR CHART

1997- 98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000- 01, 2001- 02, 2002- 03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007- 08 fiscal years 355, 381, 330, 313, 268, 207, 170, 142, 131, 110 and 95

The first six months of the 2008-09 fiscal year showed some signs of improvement as 65 ships came to the port during the period.

Labourers of the port said absence of dredging work in the channel, unusually long time and excessive workforce required for loading and unloading of goods due to use of outdated handling equipment, and huge irregularity and corruption in employing and managing labourers are the main reasons behind the declining interest of port users about Mongla Port.

They also alleged that the policies of the past 2001-06 BNP government were unfriendly and even hostile in some cases to Mongla Port.

Vice-president of Mongla Port Labourers’ Association Omor Faruk Sentu says the port has been pushed to the verge of destruction as no infrastructure development took place after 2001. The authorities’ negligence to procure efficient equipment to replace the worn-out handling tools and keep the channel navigable has rendered the port almost idle despite its tremendous potentials to serve as a gateway to the world not only for the country, but also for land-locked Nepal.

The port urgently needs capital hopper dredger, some modern equipment, a fuel depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and a silo for food grains at Joymoni, he lists.

The labour leader alleges that despite the government’s assurance of using the Mongla Port for channeling 40 percent of official import of food grains and fertilizers, only about 5 percent of the imports were made through this port.

The port could be more vibrant than now if the government could use the port as pledged, he believes.

Sentu accuses the BNP-led government of discriminating against Mongla Port in terms of fuel and fresh water supplies to foreign ships. “Many conditions are imposed on the Mongla Port which are not applicable for the Chittagong Port. This discrimination must end to save the port.”

Mongla Port Ship Chandlers’ Association president HM Dulal says the discriminator policy has driven foreign ships away from Mongla Port.

As per the government rule for Mongla Port, any foreign ship has to pay $1205 per tonne (1186 litres) of fuel (diesel) and $7 per tonne of fresh water, while the rate is $800 and $1.5 to $2 for Chittagong Port.

“Moreover, ships anchored at Mongla Port need to collect permissions and customs clearance for required supplies of fuel and water, causing lot of hassles and waste of time,” Dulal adds.

Labourers and their leaders, port officials and users say that the abolition of ‘Mongla Port Dock Shramik Parichalana Board’ will ease the process of Mongla Port revival. Cost of loading and unloading goods at the port has reduced to two-thirds of the previous level as the handling work now requires less labourers and time.

General secretary of Mongla Port Stevedores’ Association SM Zahid Hossain stresses the need for maintaining at least 9 metres’ depth between fairway boya and Mongla Port of the port channel to keep the port active.

Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Shaharuzzaman Mortuza demands immediate dredging activities in the channel and modernization of the port services to make port operational and spur the development of southwestern region of the country.

Mongla Port member (operations) M Lutfur Rahman acknowledges the limitations of the port. He singles out the lack of dredging work that led to abrupt fall in number of foreign vessel arrivals in last few years. He also shares the views that different policy for fuel and water supply also discouraged foreign ships.

The port official elaborates on the projects undertaken for development and modernization of the port. The ongoing projects are: Outer bar channel dredging of Passure channel worth Tk 58 crore, procurement of cargo handling equipment worth Tk 23 crore, navigational aid to Mongla Port worth Tk 23 crore and rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure and other facilities damaged by Sidr worth about Tk 7.5 crore.

The projects that are in the process of approval are procurement of cutter suction dredger worth Tk 58 crore and procurement of pilot boat and pilot dispatch boat worth Tk 24.70 crore.

Two other projects requiring foreign funds are Tk 548 crore project for improvement and development of navigability of Passure Channel and a Tk 7.5 crore project to study the feasibility of Mongla Port improvement.

The port official believes that ship arrival will increase as the projects are being implemented. Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association has expressed its interest in using Mongla Port for vehicle imports as the port’s sheds can accommodate 3500 cars at a time and have the arrangements to increase the storage capacity, if needed. Car importers face acute storage crisis at the Chittagong Port, where hundreds of imported vehicles are often found kept in the open.

The Chittagong Custom House authorities on April 8 auctioned 304 luxury vehicles stuffed in Chittagong Port sheds for long, custom officials said. The vehicles included sedan cars, Pajero and Prado jeeps priced between Tk 20 lakh and 40 lakh. Customs and port officials said they were forced to go for the auction as importers were delaying deliveries and using the port sheds as their garage. Importers are allowed to keep vehicles at sheds for 30 days.

More than 4,000 imported vehicles were lying in the port sheds, causing space constraint. Mongla Port authorities say they have enough space for imported cars and hope car importers will now take interest about using the second port.
Tuesday June 2nd 2009
Business Report