CHATTOGRAM, June 10, 2024 (BSS) - Operational activities at the Patenga Container Terminal (PCT)  has began under first foreign operator Saudi operator Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) in the history of the country's major seaport’s port speedy operations in the country.

Commercial ship MV Maersk Davao has arrived at 3 pm on Monday at PCT in the first instance of a foreign firm handling operations at a port terminal in the country.

A 22-year concession agreement was signed between Red Sea Gateway Terminal International and Chattogram Port Authority in December 2023.

The self-craned feeder ship is scheduled to proceed from Malaysia's Port Kelang to RSGT's Chattogram Terminal with around 800 TEUs of export cargo and load-and-unload empty containers to Belawan Port in Indonesia.

Chattogram Port Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail along with port, RSGT Bangladesh Chief Executive Officer Erwin Hayes and senior officials, representatives of various port user organizations were present in the event organized on this occasion.

RSGT is an affiliate of London-based RSGTI. RSGT, established in 2006, is a leading port developer and operator in Saudi Arabia, with its flagship terminal located at Jeddah Islamic Port.

It handles 6.2 million TEUs annually and 580 meters long and 10 meters draft PCT can accommodate three ships together. PCT and South Container Yard together are two lakh eight thousand square meters. The PCT has plans to invest $170 million in container handling equipment and technology-enabled port management.

The Singapore-flagged vessel, carrying 1,747 TEUs of import containers from the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, arrived on Saturday and is berthed at jetty No. 9 of the port's General Cargo Berth (GCB).

After unloading the import containers, the vessel will berth at a jetty at the PCT on Monday, where it will be loaded with around 1,000 TEUs of export containers, including empty ones.

Initially, only geared vessels equipped with onboard cranes can be handled at the PCT as the Saudi firm needs two more years to bring and install quayside gantry cranes.

An official of a foreign shipping firm said container handling at the PCT would be quicker and smoother as RSGT plans to receive export containers from ICDs three days prior to the arrival of ships.

Sources said around 300 TEUs of empty containers and some export-laden containers bound for the Maersk Davao had arrived at the PCT from different ICDs yesterday.

According to NBR conditions, all imported LCL (less-than-container load) containers need to be physically examined before being sent to the South Container Yard while all FCL (full container load) containers must be physically examined as per the customs risk management system until the installation of a scanner at the PCT.