Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
CHATTOGRAM: Good news is the country's premier Chittagong port has joined the 'three-millionaire' club again this year after 2019.
It achieved the feat of handling more than 3.0-million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers four days before the end of the current calendar year.
The port handled 3,169,367-TEU containers from January 01 to December 26 this year and 2,839,987 in 2020.
It first entered the 'three-millionaire' club in 2019 for handling 3,088,197-TEU containers from January 01 to December 31.
Besides, the port handled 2,903,996-TEU containers in 2018 and 2,667,223 in 2017.
However, it could uphold the growth in the rate of handling cargoes and containers.
The port handled a total of 115,067,223-million tonne open cargoes from January 01 to December 26 in 2021 while it handled 103,077,000 from January 01 to December 30 in 2020.
A total of 4,090 ships came to the port in 2021 against 3,728 in 2020 and 3,807 in 2019.
Chittagong port is now the 67th busiest among 100 top container ports globally, according to the latest list of Lloyd's, the oldest journal on port and shipping.
It ranked 58th in 2020, 64th in 2019, 70th in 2018 and 71st in 2017 in the list.
CPA secretary Mohammed Omar Faruk says port workers, staff and officials work even during public holidays amid coronavirus risk, thus contributing to the growth in the container-handling capacity.
"Chittagong port obtained 67th position among 100 ports of the world. The outbreak of Covid-19 hampered the maritime trade from January to December in 2020."
"We hope we will overcome the situation…," Mr Faruk added.