CPA calls for more wagons to ease container congestion

Amid growing container congestion, the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has called on Bangladesh Railway (BR) to urgently increase the number of wagons and locomotives to ensure uninterrupted operations at the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) connected to the port.

In a letter sent to the Chief Operating Superintendent of the BR Eastern Zone on 9 July, the CPA warned of an impending gridlock if immediate steps are not taken. The port authority reported that 868 TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) of import containers are currently stuck in the port's ICD yard, while another 500 TEUs are waiting at the outer anchorage for berthing.

With ICD storage nearing its limit, CPA officials stressed that handling additional containers is becoming increasingly difficult.

Data from 1-8 July show that the port was able to dispatch only 68 TEUs per day on average. If a daily provision of wagons for 200 TEUs had been made, an additional 1,057 TEUs could have been transported during that period, the letter noted.

The shortage of trains has caused containers destined for Dhaka to remain at the port's ICD yard for up to 12 to 15 days-delays that have already begun to hurt importers financially and disrupt supply chains.

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