Three of Chattogram port’s four container terminals are already run or contracted to foreign operators, and the government has started moving to appoint an operator for the fourth, the Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT), The Daily Star reported on 23 October 2026.
Saudi-based Red Sea Gateway Terminal International has operated the Patenga Container Terminal since 2023; Denmark’s APM Terminals won the Laldia Container Terminal concession in 2025; and UAE-based DP World secured management of the New Mooring Container Terminal in October 2026 after months of protests by port workers and activists. The newspaper said Red Sea Gateway was a potential candidate for CCT.
A shipping ministry letter of 28 September directed Invest Bangladesh to begin the appointment process. Shipping Secretary Md Zakaria said no decision had been taken and that the ministry was awaiting the port authority’s reply. Local firm Saif Powertec has run CCT since 2006 under a contract that expires next month.
Views are divided. Former port CBA leader Sheikh Nurullah Bahar said CCT and NCT had “delivered productivity beyond expectations under local operators”. Economist Anu Muhammad warned that “whoever controls Chattogram port will have control over the entire economy”, while former CPA board member Md Zafar Alam favoured open tendering over government-to-government appointments.
Source
- The Daily Star: “Will foreign firms run all four Chattogram port terminals?” (23 October 2026)
File photo: Chattogram port seen from a flyover. Photo: Owais Al Qarni / CC BY-SA 4.0, 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.
