Mongla Port sees increase in ship handling, revenue generation

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Md Hedait Hossain Molla, Khulna
Published : 06:00, Feb 07, 2020 | Updated : 06:00, Feb 07, 2020

File photo of Mongla portMongla Port, the country's second largest seaport, saw increases in international ship handling as well as revenue generation in the first half of the current fiscal year(FY2019-20).
In July-December fiscal period, 478 ships anchored at the port, marking a 7.17% rise compared to the same period of the previous year, while the number of ship sailing from the port stood at 465, a 8.41% year-on-year growth, according to the latest report of the Mongla Port Authority (MPA).
Meanwhile, the port's earnings increased by 9.08% to Tk 1.63 billion in these six months, the report said.
MPA Chairman Rear Admiral Sheikh Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad said that infrastructural developments, increased facilities, and government initiatives were the reasons behind the progress.
"The port situation will further improve rapidly with the completion of ongoing development projects at the port within the next three to four years," he added.
Azad said that the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) passed a project worth Tk7.93 billion to dredge the inner bark of the port aiming to increase its capability.
"The dredging will make the ships of 9-10 meter depth to enter the port easily," he said, and hoped the project would be completed by 2022.
Besides this, several other projects at the port were underway including the setting up of four more jetties, he said.
The chairman said Mongla was a port with potential as the distance between the port and capital Dhaka was smaller than the other ports of the country.
In the first half of FY2019-20, cargo handling at the port increased by 4.98% to 5,717,000 tons while the handled number of container increased by 7.49% to 34,039, the data showed.
The seaport started to build momentum and has been earning profits since 2008, with the imports of cars, crops, fertilizer and clinkers and shipments of frozen and processed foods, they added.

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