More than 90 mother vessels were waiting at the Chattogram and Kutubdia anchorages in mid-January 2026, nearly double the usual 40 to 50, as a shortage of lighter vessels slowed unloading ahead of Ramadan, The Daily Star reported on 15 January.
More than half of the ships were carrying food, including wheat, lentils, chickpeas, raw sugar and edible oil, and many were overstaying by 10 to 20 days. At one berthing meeting, the Bangladesh Water Transport Coordinating Cell (BWTCC) allocated 59 lighter vessels to the same number of mother ships, leaving at least 30 without unloading support. Agents usually need three to four lighters per ship per day.
The newspaper cited MV Pacific Jesmin, which arrived on 30 December with 58,955 tonnes of raw sugar and had unloaded only 27,000 tonnes, and MV Ince Kastamon, carrying 55,000 tonnes of wheat, where demurrage could exceed $20,000 a day. BWTCC convener Shafiq Ahmed blamed the simultaneous arrival of many ships before Ramadan; 631 loaded lighters were at 50 destinations, including 143 carrying government fertiliser that had been stuck for weeks. An inland vessel owners’ leader said more than 300 vessels had shifted to Mongla, Payra and Indian coastal routes over the past year.
Source
- The Daily Star: “Ramadan import rush leaves lighter vessels in short supply” (15 January 2026)
File photo: a vessel arriving at Chattogram port’s outer anchorage. Photo: Press Information Department / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This article was prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) and documents listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
