Record number of ships anchored at Mongla Port in FY21, pushing revenue

A record 970 commercial ships anchorer at the Port of Mongla in the fiscal year that ended on Jun 30 as the government’s efforts to make the port dynamic and ease pressure on the premier Chattogram Port appear to be working.

This also pushed the port’s revenue up to an all-time high of Tk 3.4 billion in fiscal 2020-21.

As many as 14,474 cars and 43,959 TUE (twenty-foot equivalent) containers were unloaded at the port in the financial year.

In 2019-20, the number of ships that docked at the port was 903, after 912 in 2018-19.

Md Mostafa Jalal, a director of Mongla Port Authority, said the number of ships that anchored at the port in the last fiscal year was the highest since the establishment of the port seven decades ago.

Rear Admiral Mohammad Musa, the chairman of Mongla Port Authority, said at a news conference on Sunday that the port turned around from losses when the government took “special” initiatives to import cars through the port after traders showed interest in it in 2009.

Most ships that moor at the port now contain cars. The port is also used to import raw materials for cement, urea fertiliser, rice and machinery.

Musa said the port’s activities will be bolstered when the Rampal Power Plant opens in Bagerhat. As many as 130 mother vessels and over 300 lighter ships will carry 4.5 million tonnes of coal for the plant annually, according to him.

Khulna City Mayor Talukder Andul Khaleque hopes the launch of the Padma Bridge will make the port livelier. “Government efforts to increase its capacity have continued.”

Businesses see the record number of commercial ships docking at the port amid the coronavirus pandemic as a positive sign.

Saiful Islam, secretary general of a committee that coordinates among the users of the port, said exporters and importers feel comfortable to use the port after its development.

Sheikh Liakat Ali Liton, president of Bagerhat Chamber of Commerce, praised the government for bringing the port back from the dead.

He urged the government to take more steps for the modernisation of the port.

[Reporting by Khulna Correspondent Shuvro Sachin and Bagerhat Correspondent Alip Ghatak]