Vessel carrying 34,600 tonnes of jet fuel arrives at Ctg Port

A Chinese-flagged vessel, Xing Tong 799, carrying 34,600 tonnes of jet fuel from South Korea, arrived at the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port this afternoon (24 April).

At a daily demand of 2,500 tonnes, the shipment is expected to cover nearly two weeks' consumption, Nazrul Islam, managing partner of local shipping agent Pride Shipping Lines, told The Business Standard.

Earlier, two vessels carrying a combined 68,450 tonnes of diesel arrived between yesterday afternoon and this morning.

The Pakistani-flagged tanker MT Quetta anchored at the port's outer anchorage around 3pm yesterday (23 April), carrying 33,400 tonnes of diesel from Taiwan.

It was followed early today by the Panama-flagged Prive Angel, which arrived from Dubai with 35,055 tonnes.

Nazrul said diesel unloading from the vessels that arrived yesterday began through lightering this afternoon.

He added that lightering from the diesel vessels that arrived today will start later, as priority is being given to unloading the jet fuel due to low stock levels.

He said four vessels are currently waiting at the outer anchorage.

"As these vessels are oversized, they cannot be berthed at the port's dolphin jetties. Instead, lightering is being carried out at Kutubdia anchorage using smaller mother vessels," he said.

He further noted that, since only two jetties are available for berthing, no additional mother vessels can be accommodated.

However, efforts are underway to unload the fuel as quickly as possible, he added.

Data show that between 28 February, when the US-Israeli war on Iran began in the Middle East, and 21 April, a total of 823,170 tonnes of fuel oil arrived at the port on 26 vessels over 53 days.