MV HR Hera sets sail for Colombo with export goods from Ctg port

Bangladeshi flag-carrying feeder vessel MV HR Hera set sail for the first time on Wednesday from Chattogram port with containers carrying export goods of 555 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) 

The ship sailed from the port at 7.30 am and is scheduled to reach Colombo on 11 April.  

Earlier on 5 April, another feeder vessel of the  Karnaphuli Group -MV HR Rhea- left from Chattogram port for Singapore with 836 TEU's of export goods.

The two new ships of the Karnaphuli Group will carry goods from Chittagong port to Singapore-Colombo- and Malaysia's Klang port under the Chittagong-Colombo Express service. 

Earlier, the company launched two feeder vessels, 'Sahare' and 'Sarera,' in June last year, which plied Singapore and Malaysia routes.

Anis Ud Daula, executive director of HR Line, a subsidiary of the Karnaphuli Group, told The Business Standard that HR Hera left for Colombo on Wednesday morning and is scheduled to reach Colombo on 11 April.  

The ship had to leave Chattogram port to meet the schedule of the mother vessel in Colombo, even though it had received orders of export goods for its carrying capacity of 1,445 TEUs.

Our previous two ships, which brought cargo containers from Chattogram Port to Singapore Port and Klang Port in Malaysia, have already won the confidence of exporters and importers by transporting goods on time, he added.

Sources said, as there is no deep seaport in Bangladesh, large container vessels cannot anchor at Chattogram seaport. Hence, feeder vessels have to transport container goods to ships on international routes.  

These ships carry container goods from Chattogram port to different destinations with transit facilities, including Singapore, Malaysia, and China. 

At present, some 22 foreign feeder operators transport goods from Chattogram port to Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Chinese ports, with 84 container vessels on transit routes.

With these two new feeder ships, Karnafuli Group, is the only Bangladeshi company operating four Bangladeshi flagged feeder vessels. Two more feeder vessels will be added to their fleet soon.