Five new cargo and container-handling cranes have been commissioned at the first terminal of Payra Port in Kalapara, Patuakhali, Maritime Gateway reported on 8 October 2026. Their commissioning coincided with the 170-metre mother vessel Fan Zhou-6 berthing directly at the jetty — the first direct mother-vessel operation at the port in nearly two years.
The new equipment comprises two 80-tonne ship-to-shore cranes, two 40-tonne rubber-tyred gantry cranes and one 80-tonne mobile harbour crane. According to the port’s traffic department, the ship-to-shore cranes will work container vessels, the gantry cranes will stack boxes in the yard and the mobile crane will handle both bulk cargo and containers.
Draught remains the constraint
Harbour master Captain SM Sharifur Rahman said Fan Zhou-6 draws about six metres and that larger ships could berth directly if dredging improves navigability in the Rabnabad Channel. Payra Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Syed Saiful Islam said a dedicated yard for imported vehicles is also ready.
Navigability has been Payra’s main challenge: in December 2025, The Daily Star reported that a navigability crisis had reduced foreign ship arrivals at the port.
Event date: 8 October 2026
Sources: This report summarises the following original reporting. Facts and quotations are attributed to these sources.
- Maritime Gateway, Payra Port Adds Five Cranes as Direct Mother-Vessel Operations Resume (8 October 2026)
- The Daily Star, Navigability crisis hits Payra port, foreign ship arrivals drop (16 December 2025)
More from Port News.
File photo: the inauguration of Payra port operations. 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.
