The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has started maintenance dredging of the Matarbari deep-sea port channel in Maheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar, to restore navigability that has been reduced by silt, The Financial Express reported on 18 June 2026.
According to the report, coal-carrying ships already use the channel regularly and LNG carriers are expected to start using it in the near future. Excess sedimentation had reduced the depth in several sections, and officials launched the work on an urgent basis.
A study of the channel’s morphology and sediment movement identified a trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) as the most suitable option. The vessel deployed is the TSHD King Copper, owned by a Chinese company. CPA Secretary Syed Reffayet Hamim told the newspaper that dredging had commenced and that the dredger is removing sediment to restore and maintain the required depth.
Project sources quoted in the report said construction of the port’s terminal began on 3 May. The first phase will build a terminal with two jetties at an estimated cost of Tk 62 billion, on about 1,030 acres of land in Maheshkhali.
Source
- The Financial Express: “Maintenance dredging begins at Matarbari deep sea port channel” (18 June 2026)
File photo: the first commercial vessel to dock at Matarbari, 29 December 2020. Photo: Press Information Department / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This article is a summary prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
