Over 3m tonnes of goods stuck at Chattogram port as transporters go on strike

A nationwide strike enforced by water transport workers has halted the unloading of 3.1 million tonnes of imported goods at the outer anchorage and jetties of Chattogram port.

Chattogram Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 30 Nov 2019, 04:37 PM
Updated : 30 Nov 2019, 04:37 PM

Bangladesh Water Transport Workers’ Federation began the strike on Saturday midnight to press home their 11-point charter of demands, including the provision of appointment letter, identity cards and food allowance.

The lighter vessel workers also stopped working expressing solidarity with the strikers, halting the cargo handling at the port.

More than 57 large overseas vessels are waiting at the outer anchorage to unload over 1.3 million tonnes of imported goods and 986 lighter vessels are waiting to unload about 1.3 million tonnes of goods at several jetties at the Chattogram port, according to the authorities.

In addition, around 300 lighter vessels owned and operated by different industrial groups got stranded with about 500,000 tonnes of industrial raw materials and goods such as clinker, ceramic, coal, steel, fertiliser, wheat, pulse and sugar.

The cargo handling at the outer anchorage remained suspended due the strike, said Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Omar Faruk.

Usually, vessels carrying goods from the outer anchorage unload goods at 16 jetties on the Karnaphuli River and several other jetties in the country.

A total of 986 vessels with 1.3 million tonnes of goods remained stranded at the port, said Mahbub Rashid, executive director of Water Transport Cell.