After the settlement of lengthy maritime disputes with India and Myanmar at the international courts, Bangladesh has won the rights over 118,813 square kilometres of sea region, 200 nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and established sovereignty over all kind of resources up to 354 nautical miles from the Chattogram coast. Opportunities have been created to extract marine resources in the vast sea areas of the country. A large part of the economic activity of foreign trade is done almost entirely through these seas. The number of ship arrivals is increased as the country’s economic activities have expanded, owing to increased import and export. In response to the rising demand, Chattogram, the country’s principal seaport, has increased its port of call. The outer anchorage’s boundary is expanded six and a half times in a decade, to 50 nautical miles. The water boundary area has been expanded to meet the future demands of the country’s commercial zones, which include the Matarbari deep seaport.
Large cargo ships from other nations are unable to reach the Karnaphuli channel. This channel is used by relatively small international feeder vessels with a maximum draft of 9 and a half metres and a length of 190 metres. As a result, large ships have to release goods on lighter ships. Although there is no container handling at the outer anchorage, most of the bulk goods are released there. The ship handling operators at the port release the goods under the direction, control and surveillance of Chattogram Customs House.
Why ship handling operators
In order to understand why a ship handling operator is needed, one must first understand what lightering or transferring commodities from ship to smaller vessel entails. The process of transporting commodities between vessels of various sizes is known as lightering. The transfer of products from large vessels to small vessels or from small vessels to huge vessels can be an example of this. Lightering is a concept that dates back over 200 years. When carrying commodities from one country to another, large steam-powered vessels could not access a very tiny port. As a result, items were released and transported to the port in small boats. Transporting commodities from the port to other parts of the country necessitates the use of lightering. Lightering is done by ship handling operators. Ship handling companies employ their own personnel and equipment to handle the cargo. At the outer anchorage of Chattogram port, registered ship handling operators are at work.
Ship handling operators at outer anchorage
Many units are involved in the Chattogram port’s massive workload. Berth and terminal operators handle containerised goods at the port jetty, while ship handling operators handle in the outer anchorage. At Chattogram port, thirty ship handling operator companies are working to offload commodities at the outer anchorage. They are registered by the port on a five-year contract.
At the berthing meeting, the concerned shipping agent and ship handling operator must be given the most recent information on product lightering from the vessel. Customs and Ports’ DTM (Operations) and Marine Departments coordinate the entire procedure. The receipt of revenue owing to lightering is also certified by the DTM office (Operations).
How the goods are handled
Like the port jetty, 24 hours handling activities are carried out in outer anchorage for all seasons. When the sea becomes rough during the turbulent rainy season, the work of releasing goods is temporarily halted. Just as there are certain procedures for releasing goods at the port jetty, there are also certain procedures for releasing goods at the outer anchorage. The goods have to be released according to the customs and port regulations. Imported bukl goods are released at the outer anchorage. The amount of export product handling is absolutely negligible. The shipping agent declares the import of the goods by ship on behalf of the importer. The shipping agent’s designated ship handling operator then begins the process of releasing the goods. The importer supplies lighter vessels to the ship handling operator. For this, the importer has to take the allocation of lighters through the Water Transport Cell (WTC) of the lighter ship regulatory body. Arriving at the vessel at the outer anchorage, the supervisor of the ship handling operator communicates with the supervisor and captain of the cargo ship and begins the evacuation process. After completing the survey of goods by the importer and ship surveyor, the releasing starts. Goods are usually released in two ways. One of these is to be released directly on a lighter ship by paying the port’s river dues against the customs outpass bill of entry. The other is the releasing of goods from the ship under the supervision of PO Onboard in a specific lighter through ‘Green Boat Note’ against the customs guarantee and later the releasing of goods through ‘Blue Boat Note’ against the customs outpass.
How the workers begin the work
At the start of the releasing, workers form gangs. The term ‘gang’ refers to the number of workers assigned to a crane on a cargo ship. Gangs of 5, 9, 11, and 18 persons are formed depending on the amount of the commodities and the ship. Gangs have been in place since the outset to help with the task. Each ship employs one foreman who supervises the workers’ work. The entire releasing process is overseen by a supervisor, and a reporter works on the work report. Tally clerk works on freight products alongside workers, foremen, and managers. The tally clerk’s job is to keep the the track of how much cargo is being transferred from large to tiny ships.
To release goods, ship handling operators must use both their personal and ship equipment. Graves, excavators, pay-loaders, and other machinery are among them. The workers of the ship handling operators operate these machines. The ship’s crane is also operated by a winch man.
Worker’s safety
Carrying goods from ship to ship on the outer anchorage is not as easy as handling goods on ordinary jetties. Besides supervisors, reporters, foremen and workers have to be constantly vigilant in handing over the goods of the two ships. The first issue that comes first is the protection of workers. There are instructions to use safety equipment to ensure the safety of workers. This includes masks, hand gloves, helmets and other safety equipment.
The goods which are handled
The quantity of import in Chattogram port has been steadily increasing in recent years, in keeping with the country’s economy and ongoing development efforts. The Chattogram port is regularly confronted with difficulties in handling this massive amount of cargo. Imports of construction materials, such as stone, scrap metal used to make rods, and other heavy machinery, have increased particularly for infrastructure development projects. In addition to crucial food and industrial raw materials, ship handling operators often handle development projects. Ship handling operators regularly handle rice, legumes, wheat, sugar, cement clinker, scrap steel, coal, and heavy machinery, in addition to goods brought in for development projects. Ship handling operators are in charge of releasing heavy equipment for the Padma Bridge and the nuclear power plant and delivering it on time.
Where does the lightering take place?
At one time the outer anchorage area of Chattogram port was up to five nautical miles from the coast. Due to the increase in the number of ships arriving at the port, the area of outer anchorage was increased to 6.5 nautical miles in 2011. In the last few years, the number of ships arriving has exceeded 3,500. Furthermore, as part of a long-term strategy to support the LNG terminal surrounding Matarbari, the Matarbari seaport under development by JICA, and cargo ships in economic zones, the authorities have enlarged the outer anchorage area of Chattogram port from 7 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles. The proposal to increase the coverage of the outer anchorage was published in the form of a notification on 24 January 2019 by the order of the President after the vetting of the Ministry of Law and the approval of the Ministry of Shipping. As a result, the Chattogram port’s outer anchorage has grown from the estuary of the Karnaphuli to Kutubdia. The outside berth is used for lightering throughout the year. As a result, lightering and ship positioning are far safer than they were previously. Ships from Payra port occasionally do lightering at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port when the weather is rough.
Pilots and sailors have to be careful to navigate and anchor in the outer anchorage area due to the strong tide of 6-7 nautical miles per hour. In particular, the port authority has instructed not to pass any other outboard ship at high tide, to keep the engine running, to travel at a speed of 6 nautical miles in case of emergency, not to be at the entrance of the channel, to check the position of the anchor after 2 to 3 tides. Pilots are instructed to navigate and locate from Port Radio Control to avoid accidents. In addition, pilots have to keep in mind the effects of monsoon winds and the tendency of rapid climate change from May to October, such as storms, rains and cyclones.
Large ships and lighter vessels have to be positioned side by side in goods lightering. Necessary fendering (mooring ropes, old tires) is required to ensure uninterrupted lightering as well as constant communication between the two ships, so that there is no collision between the mother vessel and the lighter ship due to the sway caused by the effects of tides and waves.
Outer anchorage handles more ships than the port jetty
In both ship and cargo handling data, the share of outside anchorages is higher. According to the statistics, 2,204 ships of bulk goods have arrived at Chattogram port in the fiscal year of 2018-2019. Of these, 1,321 ships’ goods have been released at the outer anchorage alone. 479 and 404 ships were released at the port’s own jetty, specialised jetty and mooring, respectively. In the fiscal year (2019-20), 2,309 ships of bulk goods arrived. Of these, goods of 1,484 ships were released at the outer anchorage alone. Besides, 491 ships have been released at the jetty and 347 ships had goods released at the specialised jetty and mooring. According to the statistics of the last fiscal year (2019-20), the share of cargo ship handling in the outer anchorage is about 63 %.
Safe outer anchorage
The channel of Chattogram port is a safe destination for domestic and foreign shipping. Surveillance by law enforcement, regular patrols and constant communication of ships with the control room of the port authority has reduced the number of criminal activities as well as keeping Chattogram port as a safe port and at the same time brightened the image of the port.
Increased crime in the country’s outer anchorage exerts negative impact on the movement of foreign ships. Due to this negative impact, additional freight charge is imposed on the transportation of goods and the domestic importers and exporters have to suffer. Bangladesh Coast Guard, Bangladesh Navy and Chattogram Port Authority are constantly working to prevent piracy at sea. Chattogram port is implementing international security code ISPS Level-1. The Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) has been upgraded to reduce the number of accidents, thefts or robberies to zero. There are also plans to buy high-speed ships and helicopters for surveillance purpose with its own initiative.
In addition to the outer anchorage, all the installations within the port limit, river mooring, jetties, terminals are in the process of being brought under more surveillance. A Rapid Response Berth has been set up at Patenga ghat 15, so that the Navy and Bangladesh Coast Guard can reach the scene directly at sea within 10 minutes if they receive any allegations of piracy.
Scope has expanded, but will expand further
There is no other option for achieving the country’s development goals and maintaining high economic growth except to increase the capacity of Chattogram port. Because of the development in trade, products imports and exports are always expanding. Furthermore, with the advent of transit-transhipment of commodities from adjacent nations through Chattogram port, the capability of handling goods is rising. In addition to consistently growing its capacity in product handling, Chattogram port is working directly to increase the capacity of terminal operators, berth operators, and ship handling operators. Chattogram port is determined to use all its potential to achieve the desired development goals. The image of Chattogram port is changing due to relentless efforts for development. The image of releasing goods in the outer anchorage is also changing. Chattogram port will soon rise to the top of the list of the busiest ports in the world; it is no longer a dream.
