Abu Dhabi Ports Group seeks to invest $1b in Bay Terminal

Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group has offered to invest $1 billion to construct a multipurpose terminal, one of four under Bay Terminal, in a joint venture with Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), said CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail yesterday.

A deal will be signed to start the construction under a public-private partnership (PPP) by June next year, he told a press conference at the CPA on the port's successes in 2023 and plans for next year.

The Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company has a broad portfolio of major enterprises, which also own and operate 10 ports and terminals, according to its website.

Up until now, Bay Terminal, to be constructed on the coast of Bay of Bengal, is scheduled to have two container terminals, a multipurpose terminal and an oil and gas terminal.

A joint venture of South Korean firms Kunhwa Engineering and Consulting Company Ltd and Daeyoung Engineering Company Ltd, has prepared the feasibility study and masterplan.

The government is already in an understanding with PSA Singapore and DP World of the United Arab Emirates to construct and operate the container terminals under a government-to-government basis under the PPP model.

The terminals will be capable of accommodating ships having a draft of up to 12 metres and with lengths of up to 260 metres, doing away with the current need for awaiting high tides to berth ships.

The multipurpose terminal was scheduled to be built by the CPA. The South Korean joint venture prepared the detailed drawing, design and other documentation works for it.

The plan for the liquid bulk terminal was taken up recently.

Once constructed, the country's fuel storage capacity will be equal to 2 months' demand against the current storage capacity of only 25 days, hoped the CPA chairman.

A local private firm has expressed interest to invest $3.5 billion for the terminal, he said.

The World Bank has announced to invest in channel dredging and breakwater construction for the terminal, he said. A German joint venture of Sellhorn, WSP, KS and Aqua is engaged as its consultant.

The chairman hoped for total foreign investment in the Bay Terminal to reach around $7.5 to $8 billion and construction to start anywhere from June to July next year.

He further informed that Bangladesh has received a proposal of APM Terminal, a concern of Danish shipping company Maersk, to construct a container terminal at Laldia under a PPP model.

A Bangladesh-Denmark meeting will be held on January 3 in this regard, he said.

In spite of the adverse global economic situation, the Chattogram port managed to hold its membership of the "Three Million Club" in terms of container handling, said Sohail.

The "Three Million Club" refers to the group of ports which touched the milestone of handling 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers.

Annual container handling by the port crossed 3 million TEUs for the first time in 2019 when the port handled 3.08 million TEUs of containers.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, the country's foreign trade plummeted in 2020, resulting in a sharp fall in the port's annual container throughput to only 2.84 million TEUs that year.

Following the handling of a record 3.22 million TEUs in 2021, the port made its way into the club.

The CPA chairman said the port handled around 3.04 million TEUs of containers till December 25 and this would hopefully reach 3.1 million TEUs, which was close to that of last year.

He hoped that total cargo handling would exceed record 12 crore tonnes this year as the port already handled 11.83 crore tonnes till December 25.