Construction begins today, involving $550m FDI
Construction of the $550 million Laldia Container Terminal at Chattogram Port formally begins this Sunday at Patenga, signaling a dramatic shift in Bangladesh’s maritime trade capabilities.
Developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework with Danish support, this landmark initiative represents one of the largest foreign direct equity investments in the country’s history.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury is scheduled to attend the event as the chief guest.Road Transport and Bridges, Railways and Shipping Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam will attend as the special guest.
The terminal plans to invest the $550 million over the first three years of the project for construction, equipment installation and related works.
Under the concession arrangement, the CPA will receive an upfront payment of $25 million, an annual concession fee of $250,000 and $21 for every container handled at the terminal. The per-container fee will rise to $23 if annual container handling reaches 900,000 units.
The additional capacity is expected to ease pressure on existing facilities as container traffic through Chattogram Port continues to grow.
As Chattogram Port currently handles over 90 percent of Bangladesh’s international trade, resolving its long-standing capacity bottlenecks has become an urgent macroeconomic imperative.
The new facility directly addresses these structural challenges with a 615-meter jetty, a dedicated container yard, and high-efficiency Ship-to-Shore (STS) gantry cranes. Upon completion, the terminal will add 800,000 TEUs of annual handling capacity, enabling the port to accommodate significantly larger container vessels than current berths permit.
From a long-term supply chain perspective, the deployment of automated cargo-handling technology will drastically accelerate ship turnaround times.
Shorter vessel wait times will eliminate heavy demurrage charges for local traders while reducing overall freight overheads, directly sharpening the price competitiveness of major export industries like Ready-Made Garments (RMG) in global markets.
Beyond boosting trade efficiency, the project delivers substantial economic value without burdening the national treasury, as it is funded through private international equity rather than public borrowing.
The operational expansion is projected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs across freight forwarding, warehousing, and inland transport, while higher container throughput will boost national customs revenue and support broader GDP growth.
Having covered Bangladesh’s trade and infrastructure landscape for two decades, I regard the Laldia Terminal as a vital modernization benchmark that firmly positions the nation as a resilient logistics hub in South Asia.
