Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for Shipping, Bangladesh said, geographically, Bangladesh will soon become a regional economic hub, there is no doubt about it. The transshipment agreement with India is the humanitarian approach of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Apart from commercial purposes, this transshipment will open a new window of development for the eastern states of India. Now they will march towards development by using our Chittagong and Mongla ports. Some people may talk about the commercial reason behind this transshipment, but we have focused on humanitarian issues largely because we want regional friendship and believe in regional development.
On Monday, a Panama-origin ship with a 13-metre draught and 228-metre length anchored at the Matarbari, creating a record as the biggest ship berthed at any port in the country ever. After Chittagong port, Matarbari will be the lifeline of the country’s economy. At present, it takes around 45 days to send a consignment of goods from Bangladesh to the United States. Once the Matarbari deep sea port is opened, it will reach the designated destination directly in just 23 days. Bangladeshi consignments will no longer have to wait at the ports of Singapore, Colombo and Malaysia. Large mother vessels will directly come to Matarbari port instead of Singapore, Colombo and Malaysia. Our neighbouring countries will also be able to use Matarbari port. Matarbari will not only be a seaport, but it will also be an economic hub as a new city will be developed there. The whole Matarbari area will be the iconic town of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Smart Bangladesh. Japan is already investing there, and Denmark, Turkey, Dubai and some other countries have expressed their interest to invest in the economic zones of Matarbari. We are taking preparations and hopefully, within the next fiscal year Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lay the foundation of Matarbari deep sea port, and within 2026 it will be operational.
Modernization of Chittagong port: Right now, we have to depend on the tide for operations at Chittagong port, which is time-consuming and old-fashioned. This is why we are building a bay terminal at the port, including a 3,500-metre jetty with a multipurpose container terminal. This bay terminal will allow 24-hour shipment by creating a breakwater that will increase the capacity of Chittagong port. But we do not want to execute sudden automation as a lot of people are working there. We will modernize it gradually. Within 2026, the Bay terminal will be operational too.
