Chittagong Port’s General Cargo Berth (GCB) has outperformed some of the port’s more contemporary container terminals, marking a notable milestone in container handling despite its manual processes and inadequate infrastructure.
Each vessel at the GCB currently handles more than 800 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) every day, compared to the prior average of 600 to 650 TEUs, according to port officials. With a peak handling of 832 TEUs per vessel per day in April, the GCB outperformed the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), which handled 818 TEUs in the same month, and the contemporary Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT), which handled 684 TEUs.
The Chattogram Port Authority secretary, Md. Omar Faruk, credited the increased productivity to ongoing operations conducted in accordance with stringent port regulations and a personnel that is becoming more and more skilled.
The GCB’s handling rate per hour has reached 18–19 TEUs, demonstrating exceptional efficiency under manual procedures, but missing sophisticated infrastructure like gantry cranes and dedicated container yards, which are features found at CCT and NCT. In comparison to 788 TEUs at CCT and 887 TEUs at NCT, the GCB has averaged 741 TEUs per vessel every day during the last seven months, ending on 27th April 2025.
The GCB’s operational layout is not devoted, according to a port official; its backup yards are dispersed over various places, some as far away as two or three kilometres from the jetty, which can prolong the time it takes to shift containers. But according to Fazle Ekram Chowdhury, president of the Berth Operators, Ship Handling Operators, and Terminal Operators Owners Association, the GCB’s advancement has been fuelled by concerted efforts and careful planning.
Chowdhury emphasised that the six container berths at GCB currently handle over 3.2 million containers annually, or around 45 per cent of the port’s overall container throughput. Even with manual handling methods, the port maintains its resilience and efficiency, operating a total of 12 jetties, including four in NCT, two in CCT, and six in GCB.
