This is a summary of an opinion article by an outside author. The views are the author’s, not Maritime News BD’s.
In The Daily Star on 26 November 2025, Ahamedul Karim Chowdhury argued that foreign terminal operators are not inherently risky; the concern is Bangladesh’s weak regulation of how operators are chosen and overseen. He pointed to India, which hands terminals to foreign operators but enforces competition rules limiting one operator’s control of multiple terminals in a port region.
He warned that awarding the New Mooring Container Terminal to DP World, possibly alongside a role at the Bay Terminal, could give one foreign firm a dominant position at Chattogram, while acknowledging that foreign operators bring real value. He called for transparent contracts, competitive tendering instead of government-to-government deals, anti-monopoly rules, diversified partners, and concession terms requiring training, technology transfer and local management development. DP World signed the NCT concession in October 2026.
Source
- The Daily Star (opinion): “Foreign or local, Bangladesh cannot afford a port monopoly” (26 November 2025)
File photo: the Chattogram port area. Photo: Motiur Rahman Oni / 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.
