German shipper faces huge loss over damage assessment at Ctg port

Chattogram Bureau :
The Germany-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd faces huge demurrage as its chartered feeder vessel has remained detained for 17 days owing to complications in assessing the damage to a gantry crane – specialised equipment for handling containers – the ship had hit at Chattogram port.
Hapag-Lloyd launched the feeder service on the Chattogram-Colombo route in the last week of September and on September 28, the port authorities detained the ship and sent it to the outer anchorage following the accident. Subsequently, the Chattogram Port Authority informed the ship’s local agent that it would be allowed to leave the port only after an assessment of the damage and a resolution of the issue. The shipping agent said the company has been facing a daily loss of about $20,000 in demurrage as a result of the ship being kept inoperative. The sooner the matter gets resolved the better for the country’s import and export trade.
Owing to the situation, the ship could not take about 1,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export goods from Chattogram Port as per schedule. Later, the containers were sent to Colombo port in several ships step by step, it added.
Hapag-Lloyd Manager AbulKalam Azad told media men that the goods were scheduled for the mother vessel at Colombo port on October 6. But they missed the mother vessel due to a delay in sending the goods.
Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association Vice President Khairul Alam Sujan said the issue with the ship should be resolved as soon as possible. “If a ship is stuck like this day after day, it will have a negative impact on Bangladesh in the maritime world. The port authorities and the shipping company should take the initiative to resume its service as soon as possible,” he added. According to Hapag-Lloyd, under the Chattogram Colombo Feeder (CCF) service, the Liberian-flagged container ship HansaRendsburg brought 1,700 TEU containers from Colombo port on September 27. After the accident, the Chattogram Port Authority formed a committee with workshop manager Mustafa Iqbal as its head.