Bangladesh’s third largest seaport, Payra port is ready to handle commercial vessels with 10.5-meter water draft of its main navigation channel, a 100-meter long first terminal, and a 9,300 m² container freight station (CFS).
Port officials said the port authority is offering up to 30% lower tariff compared to Chittagong and Mongla ports and has wide road and water routes to provide connections with several regions.
In the inland waterways, the port has an A-class navigability facility to carry cargo throughout the country.
The port authority recently requested the members of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association to inform their principals to bring commercial vessels for starting handling export and import cargo.
Presently, the port has one mobile harbour crane with 64 tonnes capacity, one mobile hydraulic crane with 30 tonnes capacity, one forklift with 50 tonnes capacity, one forklift with 25 tonnes capacity, and one terminal tractor with 50 tonnes of capacity.
However, tenders are ongoing for collecting two ship-to-shore quay gantry cranes, four rubber-tyred gantry cranes, and seven more forklifts of different capacities.
The port is working on building two dedicated container terminals of 1,400-meter each, one multi-purpose terminal of 1,200-meter, and one LNG/liquid bulk terminal to handle the export-import cargo as Bangladesh’s external trade is growing while the capacity of Chittagong seaport is saturating.
The Payra seaport is now the deepest port in the country, with its main channel achieving capacity to accommodate ships with a 10.5-meter water draft. With the water depth, ships of 225-meter length, 30-meter wide, carrying 60,000 tonnes of general cargo or 3,000 TEUs of containers will be able to take berth now at the port jetties.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
