Photo: BSS

BAGERHAT, Dec 1, 2025 (BSS)- Mongla, the country's second seaport, has celebrated 75 years of its establishment today.

Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Shaheen Rahman inaugurated the programmes of the celebration by releasing balloons in front of the main gate of the port.

On the occasion a colorful procession was brought out from port building. It was followed by a discussion inside the port jetty with recitation from Holy Quran and verses from Gita and Bible.
The port authorities honoured 29 institutions for their contribution for port development. Best employees were also honoured for their work. 

Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping Mohidul Islam, Port Authority Member (Harbor and Marine) Commodore Shafiqul Islam Sarkar, Member (Finance) Kazi Abed Hossain, Member (Engineering and Development) Dr. A. K. M. Anisur Rahman, Director Kalachand Singh, Port Officer Captain Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, Harbor Master, Colonel Firoz Wahid, department heads, officers and employees of all levels and port users joint the ceremony.

Agriculturist Shamimur Rahman Shamim, Research Secretary of the Central Committee of BNP Gazi M. H. Tamim, and other dignitaries were present. 

Chalna Port was commissioned in the Chalna area of ??Khulna district on December 1, 1950. Its operations were shifted to Mongla in Bagerhat after three years due to geographical reasons. 

Mongla Port started its operations on December 11, 1950 with the arrival of a British merchant ship 'The City of Lions'. The ship anchored in the Joymonir Ghol area of ??the Pashur River in the Sundarbans.
 
Despite various crises in its 75-year long journey, Mongla Port has been playing a role in the country's import-export trade. 

With the ready-made water, road and railway infrastructure, this port has great potential for sending goods to different parts of the country easily, as well as for neighboring India, Nepal and Bhutan. 

The port authority has announced that it will take all kinds of initiatives to take forward Mongla Port by utilizing this opportunity. 

Senior Deputy Manager of Mongla Port Authority Md. Makruzzaman said the port first started journey as a government department.  In May 1977, the port became an autonomous organization called the ‘Chalna Port Authority’. In March 1987, the name was changed as ‘Mongla Port Authority’. 

Since its establishment, the main challenge of this port has been the navigability crisis of the long waterway. Since 1980, the arrival of commercial ships in the port has almost stopped due to the loss of depth suitable for seagoing ships. 

After that, the waterway was dredged at various times. With the acquisition of modern equipment, it is possible to handle more than 24 containers per hour, and due to the navigability prevailing in front of the jetty due to regular dredging, it is possible to handle 5 ships simultaneously in 5 jetties. 

The port authority said that the cargo handling target of Mongla Port in the past fiscal year 2024-25 was 88 lakh 80 thousand metric tons.  At the end of the fiscal year, in addition to achieving the target of 1 crore 4 lakh 12 thousand metric tons of cargo handling, 15 lakh 32 thousand metric tons or 17.25 percent more cargo was handled. 

In container handling, 1 thousand 456 TEUs or 7.28 percent more than the target was handled. The container handling of the last fiscal year was 21 thousand 456 TEUs. 

The port authority earned 2.83 percent more than the target of the last fiscal year earning Taka 343 crore revenue and net profit of Taka 62 crore.

Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Shahin Rahman said that in the first 5 months of the current fiscal year, 356 ships arrived at the port. 13,854 TEUs of containers were handled and 4 thousand 139 vehicles were imported.