CHATTOGRAM, Oct 4: The Chattogram Port is showing an optimistic trend of increasing the country's import and export trade in the days to come by handling a higher volume of goods in the first quarter of the current fiscal, despite political turmoil, dollar crisis and global recession.
According to Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) sources, the Chattogram Port, the prime sea port of the country, handled around 826,528 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) of import containers during the three months of July, August and September.
Muhammad Omar Faruk, Secretary of CPA said the handling of containers in the first quarter had increased by 36,697 TEUs of containers more than the corresponding months of the previous fiscal.
"A total of 2.83 lakh TEUs of containers had been handled in last September," Faruk said.
He hoped the booming trend of maritime trade would continue during the current fiscal.
Besides, the Chattogram Port in August handled over 114,708 lakh TEUs of import containers while in July, it was 114,455 TEUs.
Sources said export container handling decreased by 9,808 TEU in July compared to June. As the situation improved in August, the volume of export container handling increased.
Other export products, including garments could not come to depots in Chattogram due to political instability. The goods which were in the export container depot could not be shipped due to internet shutdown.
Export goods' container handling in August stood at 78,146 TEUs, higher than 59,854 TEUs in the previous month of July.
Chattogram Port handled 6,5461 TEUs of export containers and 105,075 TEUs of import containers in August of 2023. The port handled a total of 59,592 TEUs of export containers and 113,485 TEUs of import containers in July 2023, and 7,5391 TEU of export containers and 1,03,755 TEU of import containers in June 2023.
According to a statistical data of the CPA, the Chattogram Port handled 63,634 TEUs of export containers in last January, 61,099 TEUs in February, 60,752 TEUs in March, 48,737 TEUs in April, 64,523 TEUs in May, 69,662 TEUs in June, 59,854 TEUs in July and 78,146 TEUs in August.
CPA data further discloses that the Chattogram Port handled 112,095 TEUs of import containers in January, 103,886 TEUs in February, 111,487 TEUs in March, 117,218 TEUs in April, 130,400 TEUs in May, 114,591 in June, 114,455 TEUs in July and 1,14,708 TEUs in August.
Traders and port officials said the dollar crisis is gradually easing, leading to a slight increase in import and export rates compared to the previous year.
Around 92 per cent of the country's import and export trade is done through the Chattogram Port.
