Chittagong, Oct 9 (bdnews24.com)—The Container Terminal Management System (CTMS) for automatic container handling will be on trial at Chittagong port from Monday, but it will not manage the containers of the BGMEA for now.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) secretary Syed Farhad Uddin told bdnews24.com on Sunday, "CTMS will be trialled at Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) and New Mooring Container terminal (NCT). Containers will be managed at other terminals in the new system in phases."
Syed Farhad said they had deferred the CTMS introduction twice, faced by demands from Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters' Association (BGMEA).
Director of the CTMS project Khairul Mustafa said, "The system will be experimented first in two container ships at CCT and NCT on Monday. Just after seven days, the system will also be introduced in General Cargo Berth (GCB)."
Khairul added that BGMEA's export goods container management would be brought under the system from Nov 13.
"During the test-run, forty percent of the containers will be handled by the CTMS and the rest by the old system. But all containers with imported goods will be processed using the CTMS," he added.
Considering the entire infrastructure of the country, the BGMEA members opposed the relaxation on Cut-Off Time (time frame for loading goods).
According to the new CTMS system, loaded containers should be handed over to the port authority 24 hours before the berthing of the export vessels.
But at present the exporters are allowed an extra 24 hours after the ship has anchored.
While using the CTMS system, position of any container can be known online anytime. The container storage capacity of the all the jetties will be increased by 50 percent, said the CPA.
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