Commercial ships face accidents as lighter vessels anchor illegally at Ctg port

Commercial ships are getting frequently involved in accidents at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port due to the presence of lighter ships anchoring there in defiance of regulations.  

Officials say there are 10 designated anchorage points for lighter vessels in the port, in the Patenga and Parki Beach areas. However, lighter vessel owners continue to anchor their vessels outside these designated areas.

Bulk carrier ships from different countries cannot immediately identify these lighter vessels, which do not have any Automatic Identification System (AIS). As a result, accidents involving bulk carrier ships and lighter vessels are common at the outer anchorage, they said.

A recent report by Interport Maritime Ltd, a maritime survey company, found that every year at least 10 commercial ships are involved in accidents at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port.

The report identified the irregular parking of lighter vessels as the main cause of five recent accidents in the area, including the accidents involving the Ceylon Breeze from Sri Lanka, the Amfitrion from Liberia, and the Thuan An from Vietnam.

Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association Chairman Syed Mohammad Arif told The Business Standard that lighter ships should not be parked in the way of commercial ships to avoid accidents, as lighter ships have designated anchorages.

"Authorities should ensure that lighter vessels do not ply the same routes as sea-going commercial vessels," he added.

When commercial ships arrive at Chattogram port, local captains bring them to the outer anchorage to begin unloading cargo.

Several captains told The Business Standard on condition of anonymity that commercial ships cannot easily detect nearby lighter vessels in poor weather conditions, such as heavy rain, fog or strong currents due to a lack of Automatic Identification System. This results in collisions between commercial ships and lighter vessels.

To resolve this crisis, Captain Md Anam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers' Association, suggests providing the AIS systems of ships scrapped in Bangladesh to lighter ships at a low cost.

According to port data, around 45% of ships bringing goods from different countries are container ships, 45% are bulk carriers, and 10% are tankers. Around 80% of bulk cargo is unloaded in the outer anchorage through lighter vessels, while the remaining 20% is unloaded at the jetty.

Data shows that the number of commercial ships plying in Chattogram port has doubled in the past 10 years, from over 2,000 to 4,253. However, the outer anchorage area, where lighter ships anchor, has remained unchanged.

According to the Water Transport Cell, a lighter ship management company, about 3,000 lighter ships ply on various naval routes of the country at the Karnaphuli river wharf with goods from the outer anchorage.

Md Iqbal Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners' Association, said that the lighter ships are anchored in the sea and that the association will address any errors regarding anchoring of lighter ships.

Md Omar Farooq, secretary of the Chattogram Port Authority, said that the movement of commercial vessels of the port is controlled through the Vessel Traffic Management System and that the captains of the vessels concerned are immediately informed of any lighter vessel or vessel in dangerous conditions alongside the commercial vessel.

Lighter ships are causing problems not only in the outer anchorage but also in the Karnaphuli River area.

According to the Chattogram Port's Cyclone Disaster Preparedness and Post Cyclone Rehabilitation Plan-1992, lighter vessels are supposed to be shifted to the Banglabazar to Karnaphuli Bridge area only for safety when a cyclone warning is raised. However, hundreds of lighter ships anchor in this area even when there is no cyclone warning.

According to information from the Marine Department of Chattogram port, 41 mooring buoys have been installed upstream of the Karnaphuli River from Banglabazar to Kalurghat Bridge for anchoring lighter ships. Each mooring buoy has provisions for anchoring 7 lighter vessels. Accordingly, 247 lighter ships are supposed to be anchored in the area.

In reality, around 15-20 lighter vessels are anchored in each mooring buoy. Moreover, the lighter ships are self-anchoring across the river. As a result, the movement of boats used for passenger crossing in the river is being obstructed.

Nabi Alam, joint secretary of the central committee of the Water Transport Workers' Federation, told TBS that lighter ships in Chattogram do not have a safe harbour, and they are often forced to anchor in dangerous locations. He also complained that owners do not provide AIS in lighter ships.

He called for the construction of a safe harbour and a breakwater dam in the anchorage area of lighter ships in Chattogram. He said that the current anchorage areas are unsafe due to rough seas in the Bay of Bengal.