WASHINGTON: Chittagong Port has set a new record in container handling performance by climbing11 ranks in the latest survey of Lloyd’s Register, a UK-based maritime classification society. In the survey, the maritime ports around the world were ranked based on the number of containers it handled in 2015.
This year the Lloyd’s Register ranked Chittagong Port 76th among the 100 busiest container handling maritime ports in the world. According to Lloyd’s Register, the premier maritime port of the country was ranked 87th in 2015, 86th in 2014, 90th in 2013 and 98th in 2008-09.
Captain Zillur Rahman Bhuiyan, coordinator of the Lloyd’s Register in Bangladesh, handed over the Lloyd’s Register Certificate to the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal. The certificate awarding ceremony was held at Shaheed Md Fazlur Rahman Munsi Auditorium in the city yesterday.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, Chittagong City Corporation Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin, ruling part lawmakers MA Latif, ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Shamshul Haque Chowdhury, Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, Mostafizur Rahman and Abu Reza Md Nezamuddin Nadwi attended the ceremony, among others. While addressing the ceremony, Captain Zillur Rahman expressed his optimism about the port and said Chittagong Port would climb to 72nd or 70th position in the ranking if it could manage to handle 2.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers in the current year.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal in his speech informed that the seaport handled 1 million TEUs of containers in 2008 and 2 million TEUs of containers in 2015. Chittagong Port is the largest maritime port in Bangladesh, located by the estuary of the Karnaphuli River. Around 90 percent of the country’s export and import is done through the Chittagong Port.
