Container ship reaches Ctg directly from Italy, will leave with export goods Monday

Container ship the Songa Cheetah reached the Chittagong Port on Saturday and is set to leave for Italy's Porto di Ravenna (The Port of Ravenna) on Monday on the first direct commercial freight trip from Bangladesh to Europe.

A harbour pilot from the Chittagong Port moored the vessel at the Jetty no 4 in the New-mooring Container Terminal (NCT) at 1:15pm Saturday, after its arrival at the outer anchorage of the port.

Mohammad Rashed, chairman of Reliance Shipping – local shipping agent for the Songa Cheetah, said the container ship left the Port of Ravenna for Chattogram on 9 January with 945 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of empty containers and 7 TEUs of raw materials for the garments industry.

Captain Tanvir Hossain, chief operating officer of Saif Powertech – terminal operator of the NCT, told The Business Standard (TBS) on Saturday evening that containers were being unloaded from the ship.

It will leave the Chittagong Port for Italy on Monday with about 1,000 TEUs of export containers, he added.

According to sources with shipping agents, about 98% of the export goods are readymade garments while the remaining 2% are handicrafts, and leather and jute products. Once the goods arrive at the Ravenna port, they will be delivered to various destinations in Europe as per the demand of the buyers, they added.

Md Omar Farooq, secretary to the Chittagong Port Authority, told TBS that the port authorities welcome the launch of the direct freight service to Italy and dubbed the development a huge milestone for the country's economy.

"This will reduce the cost of doing business and will save time. The Chittagong Port Authority will extend all possible cooperation to continue this service."

It will take just 16 days to reach Italy for a ship through this route while currently it takes about 40 days for export goods to reach Europe via transshipment ports. This will reduce the shipment cost by around 40%.

At present, the fare for transporting a 40-foot container ship from the transshipment ports to Italy ranges between $10,000 and $14,000 depending on shipping lines, people concerned said, adding the freight charge could be $6,000-$7,000 on the new route.

Currently, Italy-bound container ships from Chattogram port first have to reach a European base port such as the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands), the Port of Antwerp in Belgium and the Port of Hamburg in Germany via transshipment ports such as Singapore, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Tanjum Palapas and Kelang in Malaysia and some ports in China. From there, they can go to Italy.

In some cases, goods are carried to Italy in mother vessels directly from the transshipment ports. But, most of the time, containers are unloaded at European base ports in the absence of the mother vessel's schedule in Italy. From there, goods are shipped to Italy in feeder vessels.

Initially, two ships will transport export goods from Chattogram on the route.

Italian shipping company Kalypso Compagnia di Navigazione SPA Italy will transport Bangladeshi export goods via two container vessels – Songa Cheetah and Cape Flores.

The Songa Cheetah is a Liberian flagship with a draft of 6.2 metres and a container capacity of around 1,100 TEUs.

The Cape Flores is the flagship of the Marshall Islands with a draft of 8.66 metres and a container capacity of 1,200 TEUs. Its length is 154.47 metres and width 25.19 metres.

The Cape Flores arrived at Chattogram port on 24 December last with empty containers. It did not carry any export goods on the way back.