CHITTAGONG, April 6: Bangladesh’s main port Chittagong, which handles 80 per cent of the country’s external trade, is too slow at handling cargo and very costly for ship operations, a key shipper said on Saturday.

He said frequent work stoppages called by trade unions and political parties worsened the port’s inefficiency.

But port officials insisted they operate at “optimum level” and blamed slow decisions by the government for making Chittagong less efficient than regional ports.

Operations at the Chittagong port is too slow because it lacks equipment, skilled manpower and infrastructure to meet the current requirements, A.S.M. Nayeem, chairman of BD Steamer Association, told Reuters.

It is costly because it takes at least six days to load and unload a ship at Chittagong against some eight hours at efficient ports like Singapore, he said.

Operational costs borne by a ship of 15,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage) come to at least $5,000 per day, Nayeem said.—Reuters