Although activities at the country’s premier seaport, Chittagong Port, have been suspended for the past two days due to Cyclone Remal, the port partially resumed operations by handling containers at jetties and yards and transporting goods on Monday noon.
However, vessels are yet to dock at the jetties.
Omar Faruq, secretary of the port, stated that no ships arrived at the port from the outer anchorage on Monday due to adverse weather conditions. Operational work can commence once ships arrive within the next few hours.
He further mentioned that administrative and internal port activities commenced at noon.
On Saturday night, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) instructed Chittagong Port to hoist danger signal number 6 due to the impact of Cyclone Remal. In response, the port authorities issued their second-highest alert level, ‘Alert-3’, which mandated the suspension of cargo handling and unloading activities.
Subsequently, on Sunday morning, the BMD raised the great danger signal No- 9, while the port authority imposed its highest level of internal alert, ‘Alert-4’.
As a result, all ships were directed to the deep sea from the port jetty, and all port activities were suspended considering the overall conditions.
Meanwhile, to mitigate damage from the cyclone, the Bangabandhu Tunnel, constructed under the Karnaphuli River in Patenga, in the port city of Chattogram, was reopened after being closed for 18 hours on Monday.
