Ship from Pakistan arrives in Chittagong with double the cargo

Last Updated on December 22, 2024 7:02 am

For the second time in the country’s history, a container ship has arrived at Chittagong Port directly from Pakistan. This time, the ship is carrying sugar, sugarcane molasses, dolomite, soda ash, three-piece, dates and various other products.

It is said that 86 percent of these products came from Pakistan. The largest amount of these products is refined sugar and the mineral dolomite.

The container ship named ‘MV Yuan Jiang Fa Zhong’ arrived at the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port at around 5 pm on Saturday. Earlier, the ship departed from Karachi Port in Pakistan on December 11 with 811 TEUs (20-foot-long units) of containers.

Earlier, this ship first reached Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates and then reached Chittagong Port for the first time on November 11 with 370 TEUs of containers. At that time, the ship’s various containers contained soda ash, dolomite limestone, magnesium, broken glass, raw materials, fabrics, paints, car parts, onions, potatoes, dates, gypsum, scrap iron, marble blocks, copper wire, resins, and whiskey, vodka, and wine.

The ship left Chittagong Port on November 12. This time, the same ship arrived in Chittagong from Karachi with more than double the cargo. Earlier, goods were brought to Chittagong from Pakistan through a third port.

It has been learned that the ship will stay at the port’s NCT Jetty for two days to unload containers and load empty containers. On the way back, there are plans to take 400 TEUs (20-foot long) of empty containers from Chittagong to Indonesian ports and 600 TEUs to Malaysian ports.

This time, the ship brought 811 single container products from the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, which is more than double the number of the ship’s first trip. Of these, 678 single container products came from Pakistan.

This time, 148,200 bags of sugar were brought from Pakistan in 285 containers, amounting to about 7,500 tons. This sugar was brought by food processing industry group PRAN-RFL, Shehzad Food Products, Savoy Ice Cream Factory and Broadway International.

After sugar, the most imported product from Pakistan for use in the glass industry was dolomite. This time, dolomite was imported in 171 containers. This raw material was brought by Nasir Float Glass and Akij Glass Industries.

Another product imported from Pakistan is soda ash. This product was imported in 138 containers. This raw material for industrial use was brought by various institutions including Nasir Float Glass.

In addition, 100% export-oriented garment factories brought rolls of cloth. A total of 46 containers contain rolls of cloth. Potatoes have been imported in 18 single containers. In addition, P&P Trading of Joypurhat has brought sugarcane molasses in 20 containers. Along with these products, old iron pieces, resins, three-pieces, etc. have been imported.

Apart from Pakistan, food products, dates, lube oil, machine parts, etc. have been brought from the United Arab Emirates. Apart from Pakistan, 10 containers of sugar have been imported from the Emirates.

Regency Lines Limited, the local representative of the ship ‘MV Yuan Jiang Fa Zhong’, has joined the company as the local representative in Bangladesh. Dubai-based container ship operating company Feeder Lines DMCC has launched the ship ‘MV Yuan Jiang Fa Zhong’ on the Dubai-Karachi-Chittagong-Malaysia-Indonesia-India-Dubai route.

Anis Ud Daula, Executive Director of Karnaphuli Limited, said, “This time, the ship has received twice as many containers as the first time. Since the ship arrived directly, it takes a few days less time. This is saving the businessmen’s costs.”

According to shipping agents, port users and importers, the introduction of direct container ships on the Dubai-Karachi-Chittagong route has saved two important considerations in maritime: ‘fare’ and ‘time’.

So far, goods were imported from Pakistan to Chittagong via Sri Lanka or Singapore. In that, these containers were unloaded once at these ports. Then they were loaded onto ships bound for Chittagong. This used to take more time. Now, due to the introduction of direct shipping services, businessmen are receiving their goods in 10 days.