Water transport workers strike: Nationwide movement of goods disrupted

The national strike by water transport workers has almost halted the unloading of goods from mother ships and the transport of goods across the country.

According to ship handlers, shipping agents and Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) sources, the unloading of about 4.44 lakh tonnes of import cargo from at least 20 mother ships anchored at Kutubdia and the outer berth of Chattogram port was suspended due to early hours work abstention.

Additionally, 10.50 lakh tonnes of goods are stuck in 773 barges that were en route or were to unload at various ghats across the country, according to the Bangladesh Water Transport Coordination Cell (BWTCC), a private organization that monitor lighter operations. vessels.

These goods mostly include commodities like wheat, sugar, lentils, yellow peas, salt, edible oil, coal, stone, industrial raw materials like cement clinker, slag and fertilizers.

The Bangladesh Water Transport Workers’ Federation on Monday announced an indefinite work stoppage demanding justice for the killing of seven crew members of the lighter vessel MV Al-Bakhera in Chandpur. They also called for the general safety of water transport workers.

Seven workers of the vessel carrying 720 tonnes of urea from Chattogram to Baghabari met a tragic end on Monday while anchoring in Haimchar area of ​​Chandpur.

Federation President Shah Alam said the law enforcement claim that Akash Mondol (Irfan), a crewman, killed the seven crewmen was rejected by the workers.

“We are demanding a proper investigation from the government,” he said, vowing to continue the sit-in until their demands are met.

Their demands include uncovering the truth behind the murders, arresting the real culprits, compensation for the dead and injured and general security for water transport workers on the inland waterways stretching from Kutubdia to Chandpur.

More than 50 percent of the imported cargo is unloaded from larger vessels to smaller ones at the outer berth of Chattogram Port and then transported to about 60 destinations across the country.

According to BWTCC, 738 lighter vessels carrying 10.11 lakh tonnes of cargo were stranded at 57 points including Chattogram, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Barishal, Chandpur, Khulna, Baghabari and Ashuganj.

BWTCC has allocated 97 lighter vessels to offload imported cargo from 20 mother vessels at Kutubdia and outer berth on Wednesday and Thursday.

Of these, 35 ships have already unloaded 45,300 tonnes of cargo, which has been stuck at Chattogram port. The remaining 62 vessels could not begin unloading activities, a BWTCC official said.