French shipping company CMA CGM, like many of its global peers, has joined the race to run Bangladesh's port terminals.
CMA CGM's three top regional chiefs on March 13 met with the Chittagong Port Authority chairman and other senior officials and proposed when they were ready to operate the Gulf Terminal and Matarbari deep sea port.
CMA CGM Group Asia Pacific Chief Executive Officer Laurent Olmeta, Network CNC Head Amish Shah and CMA CGM Group Bangladesh Managing Director T Sivakumar were among the company's delegations to meet with port officials.
They visited Bangladesh on the occasion of the announcement of a new direct service called Bangladesh Indian Gulf Express (BIGEX) from Chittagong.
CMA CGM A senior official said the Port Authority responded "positively" to CMA CGM's terminal operation request and asked them to submit a formal proposal.
a cma cgm spokesman said: "our asia pacific chief executive and head of regional services network in asia and the general manager of bangladesh visited the port to launch our new services to the middle east and had the opportunity to explore the upcoming construction of new port terminals in the gulf and matabari."
Bay Terminal and Matabari Deep Sea Port are both under construction. The main waterway of the deep harbor is ready for use by incoming and outgoing vessels, while the Chittagong Port Authority plans to make the deep harbor operational by 2026.
Construction of's Chittagong Bay Terminal is scheduled to begin in June this year. Last year, the government appointed two South Korean companies, Kunhwa Engineering and Consulting Company Limited and Dian Yang Construction and Engineering Company Limited, to prepare the terminal's detailed design.
Bangladesh has opened up its port sector for foreign companies, so many globally renowned port operators have flocked here to secure contracts in the country's logistics sector.
A foreign port operator, Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Gateway Terminal, has been approved this week to sign a concession agreement to operate a new Patenga container terminal.
The government may lease some of Chittagong port's existing terminals to foreign operators to introduce competition, improve services and break up local companies' monopolies.
So far, foreign operators who have said they want to invest in Bangladesh's logistics industry and operate port terminals include AP Møller-Maersk, DP World, Red Sea Gateway Terminal, Adani Port and Special Economic Zone Limited and PSA Singapore.
Source: Ningbo Shipping