Laurent Olmeta,
the Asia Pacific CEO for CMA CGM Group, Amish Shah, Head of Network CNC, and T
Sivakumar, Managing Director of Bangladesh for CMA CGM Group were in the
company’s delegation who met the port officials.
They visited
Bangladesh on the occasion of announcing the launching of a new direct service,
named Bangladesh India Gulf Express (BIGEX) from Chittagong.
A senior CMA CGM
official said the port authority
responded “positively” to the CMA CGM’s plea for terminal operation and asked
them to submit a formal proposal.
“Yes, our Asia
Pacific CEO and Network Head of Intra Asia service & MD of Bangladesh
visited the port about launching our new service to the Middle East and also
opportunity to explore upcoming new port terminals in Bay and Matarbari,” said
a CMA CGM spokesperson.
Both the Bay
Terminal and the Matarbari deep-sea port are at the construction stage. The
main navigation channel of the deep-sea port is ready for plying ships while
the Chittagong Port Authority plans to make the deep-sea port operational by
2026.
Construction of
the Bay Terminal in Chittagong is scheduled to begin in June this year. The
government, last year, appointed two Korean firms, Kunhwa Engineering and
Consulting Company Limited and Dian Yang Construction and Engineering Company
Limited, to prepare a detailed design of the terminal.
Already, one
foreign port operator, Saudi Arabian Red Sea Gateway Terminal, has been given
go ahead and signed a concession deal this week for operating the newly built
Patenga Container Terminal.
The government may
lease out some more existing terminals of the Chittagong port to foreign
operators in a bid to bring competition, improve services, and break the
monopoly of local companies.
Among the foreign operators which so far
expressed to invest in the Bangladeshi logistics sector and operate port
terminals include AP Møller-Maersk, DP World, Red Sea Gateway Terminal, Adani
Ports and SEZ Limited, and PSA Singapore.