2 more tugboats added to Chittagong port

Two more powerful tugboats have been added to Chittagong port to facilitate the loading of larger ships and increase the overall capacity of the port.

The two tugs named Kandari-3 and Kandari-4, bought from China for almost Tk145.23 crore, have already reached the outer harbour of Chittagong port. They are scheduled to be brought to the service jetty of the port on Thursday, Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Mohammad Omar Farooq told The Business Standard (TBS).

With the two new boats added, the number of tugboats now stands at 10, which is expected to speed up berthing and unberthing of large vessels and cargo handling capacity at the port jetty.  The tugboats will also play a key role in increasing the safety of ships arriving at the port, conducting rescue operations in outer sea areas, and assisting in the naval conservation of the Karnaphuli Channel, he added.

Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, chairman, Chittagong Port Authority, and Tarafdar Md Ruhul Amin, chairman, e-Engineering Limited, local agent of Cheoy Lee Shipyards LTD Hong Kong, signed an agreement on 14 March in this regard.

According to the agreement, the Hong Kong company would supply two high-capacity tugboats with a capacity of 5000 bhp/70 tons bollard pool.

According to ship location identification website MarineTraffic, the 32-metre-long and 13-metre-wide Kandari-3 and 32-metre-long and 12-metre-wide Kandari-4 departed from the Chinese port of Zhuhai for Chattogram 14 days ago. On 15 June they reached the waters of Chittagong port.