New Ctg-China direct shipping route launched

A vessel carrying 935 Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers arrived at Chattogram Port directly from China under a new shipping service, ushering in hope for expediting the much-anticipated direct shipping in one of the important sea routes.

The vessel “Kota Anggun” docked at the jetty of Chattogram Port around 10:45am on Monday.

It sailed carrying the containers from the busiest Ningbo-Zhoushan port of China on 7 September and reached the outer anchorage of the Chattogram port on Sunday, spending only eight days against the usual service of 20-25 days.

Concerned sources said a consortium of ships owned by several organisations has been formed to introduce the service named “China-Chittagong Express (CCE) earlier.

Under this service, the vessel arrived at the Chattogram Port and took a berth at the jetty on Monday with the imported goods.

The vessel’s shipping line Pacific International Line (PIL) Head of Operation Ahsan Habib said the ship carrying 935 TEU containers reached the port in eight days.

It made the voyage via Shanghai and Shekou and will depart Chattogram with around 1,100 TEUs export containers on Thursday, he said.

The other service providers sometimes touch the transshipment ports in this route, but the CCE will provide the direct service, Ahsan stated.

Sources said vessels used to take 20 to 25 days to arrive at Chattogram Port from China after loading containers from transshipment ports in Colombo, Singapore and Malaysia.

Now, the China-Chattogram direct route will help the ships to move with less time, they said. Mentionable, various types of machinery and raw materials for garment manufacturing and export sector in Bangladesh are imported from China.

Besides, several products are exported to China from Bangladesh. The import and export activities usually took place through the transshipment ports.

Due to the use of feeder vessels to carry goods from the mother vessels and use of the transshipment ports, both the time and cost increase.

Bangladesh Shipping Agents’ Association Director Khairul Alam Suzan hailed the initiative and said Bangladesh imports a number of goods from China.

So, operating a direct ship on the China-Chattogram route has immense potential, said Suzan. Moreover, due to the Red Sea crisis, the mother vessels take a huge time increasing the cost of doing business, he remarked.

The initiative will bring benefits for the businesses and the country as well, he added.