Vessel movement through the Karnaphuli channel at Chattogram port stopped completely on the morning of 3 February 2026 as port workers and employees protesting the planned lease of the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to UAE-based DP World enforced a 24-hour work stoppage, The Daily Star reported.
Protesters blocked pilot operations over the roughly 14 nautical miles between the jetties and the outer anchorage. None of the four departures and eight arrivals planned for that day’s high-tide window took place, although two vessels, from the RSGT terminal and the KAFCO ammonia jetty, left around 2pm with a tug arranged by the port authority. The container ship MSC Polo did not sail.
On 8 February, the Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad began an indefinite strike demanding cancellation of the lease, removal of port chairman SM Moniruzzaman and a probe into corruption allegations against him, which he had not been found responsible for at the time. Cargo delivery from mother vessels at the outer anchorage was suspended, affecting about 80 ships, while the NCT and CCT jetties run by Navy-operated Chittagong Dry Dock kept working. Police and army were deployed at port gates and two employees were detained. DP World signed the NCT concession in October 2026.
Source
- The Daily Star: “Vessel movement at Chattogram port halted as workers escalate strike” (3 February 2026)
- The Daily Star: “Indefinite strike disrupts operations at Chattogram port” (8 February 2026)
File photo: Chattogram port’s container yard. Photo: Roy Upam / CC BY-SA 4.0, 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.
