Chattogram Port Faces Persistent Congestion Despite Empty Container Evacuation Efforts
Chattogram Port in Bangladesh continues to grapple with heavy congestion, with yard occupancy exceeding 80% and vessel berthing delays persisting, particularly for gearless ships. Despite the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) moving 9,832 empty containers out of the yard last week under its “empty force shipment” program, acute congestion remains, especially during peak hours from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Heavy rainfall in recent days has compounded the situation, causing severe road jams and waterlogging around the port, disrupting vessel loading and unloading. Full Container Load (FCL) delivery points at GCB, NCT, and CCT have been suspended, further slowing container movement. Last week alone, 27,895 containers were delivered from the port’s yard, indicating high operational activity despite bottlenecks.
Berthing delays remain severe for gearless vessels at CCT and NCT, with wait times of 7–8 days, while geared vessels at GCB face a shorter wait of 1–3 days. Currently, 15 container ships are queued at the outer anchorage — 12 of them gearless — against the port’s 11 available berths. CPA has warned that four times the standard storage rent may be imposed on shipping lines that fail to clear empty containers promptly.
Additional challenges include a shortage of locomotives and wagons for Dhaka-bound inland container depot (ICD) cargo, with ICD yard occupancy exceeding 100% and container wait times reaching 20 days. Off-dock facilities are also facing critical space shortages, leading to missed vessel loading schedules. From September 1, 2025, the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) will impose a 40% tariff increase.
Industry stakeholders have urged close coordination between off-docks and shipping lines to prevent left-behind cargo incidents, which recently affected the vessel Fitz Roy V-0281E, forcing it to depart with 435 booked containers still at port due to stowage plan mismatches.
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