The 74th anniversary of the establishment of the Mongla Port Authority was observed with various programs on Sunday, with the authorities announcing four ongoing projects at the port, including dredging in the Pashur Channel’s inner bar to accommodate ships with a 10-meter draft as well as a waste and spilt oil removal initiative which aims to safeguard the port channel and the Sundarbans from pollution.
Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Shahin Rahman inaugurated the day’s programs by releasing balloons in the open. On the occasion, all domestic and foreign ships stationed at the port blew a whistle for one minute without interruption at 12:01am. A procession was organized from at the port headquarters as well where officials and employees of the port took part.
The port was established on December 1, 1950, under the name Chalna Port, through a gazette notification on September 29, 1950. According to the Port of Chalna Authority Act of 1987, it was first established as Chalna Port Authority and later as Mongla Port Authority.
The port authority honoured 32 officers and employees from all departments of the port in recognition of their outstanding contributions. It also honoured 29 organizations in various categories for their special contributions as users of Mongla Port.
Meanwhile, the port authority also arranged a farewell reception to officers and employees of the Port Authority of Bangladesh (MABK) enjoying PRL from December 2, 2023 to December 1, 2024.
The authorities said that four projects are currently underway at the Mongla Port. Among these, there is a dredging project which is being implemented in the inner bar of the Pashur Channel. It will create facilities for handling ships with a draft of 10 meters up to the jetty at Mongla Port. A modern waste and spilt oil removal management project will protect the port channel and the Sundarbans from waste and spilt oil pollution, authorities said.
Another project will facilitate collecting auxiliary vessels for Mongla Port. The main objective of the upgradation of Mongla Port project is to increase the capacity of the Port. As a result of the steps taken to develop and increase the utilization of Mongla Port, the performance of Mongla Port has been increasing since the fiscal year 2008-2009. The growth in the fiscal year 2023-2024 compared to the fiscal year 2022-2023 increased by 2.30% in the form of arrival of foreign commercial ships, 9.72% in cargo, 16.78% in containers and 13% in vehicles.
In the first 4 months of the current 2024-25 financial year, 29 lakh tons of goods have been imported and exported through the port. In addition, due to the procurement of modern equipment, it is possible to handle more than 24 containers per hour for the first time, and due to the navigability in front of the jetty, it is now possible to handle 5 ships simultaneously at 5 jetties.
The port is currently playing a special role in the country’s economy by facilitating the import of food grains, cement clinker, fertilizer, motor vehicles, machineries, rice, wheat, coal, oil, stone, corn, oilseeds, LPG gas and exporting white fish, shrimp, jute and jute products, frozen food, crabs, clay tiles, silk fabrics and general cargo.