Posted on April 12, 2023
For the first time since opening around a decade ago, Payra Sea Port has been able to accommodate a vessel having a draught of 10.2 metres owing to the dredging of a channel connecting it to the sea.
The dredging was completed last month, turning the 75-kilometre Rabnabad channel 100 metres to 125 metres wide and 10.5 metres deep.
The increase in draught, meaning the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the ship’s hull, is allowing big vessels to drop goods directly at the country’s third seaport.
This has also cut transportation costs as big ships will no longer need to stop at outer anchorage to have smaller vessels carry their cargo the rest of the way, said the port officials.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Aruna Hulya, which is 188 metres long and 33 metres wide, entered the port on Thursday afternoon with 37,800 tonnes of coal from the Port of Balikpapan in Indonesia, said Azizur Rahman, the port’s deputy director for media and traffic.
A large ship of Madina Group carrying 60,000 tonnes of coal is expected to arrive at the port in Patuakhali this week.
Trade activities at the Payra port are increasing gradually riding on coal imports for the nearby Payra 1,320-MW Thermal Power Plant.
About 200 foreign ships have unloaded goods at the port in the last two years, generating more than Tk 516 crore in government revenue.
