Eighty foreign ships dock at Mongla Port in first 37 days of FY 2025-26, boosting cargo and vehicle imports. Photo : BSS

KHULNA, Aug 7, 2025 (BSS) - A total of 80 foreign commercial ships have docked at Mongla Port in the first 37 days of the 2025-26 financial year (FY), transporting approximately 5.5 lakh tonnes of imported and exported goods along with 518 vehicles.

Md Makruzzaman, Deputy Director of Public Relations at the Mongla Port Authority (MPA), confirmed the figures and noted a rise in ship traffic compared to the same period last year.

During this time, port operations included the handling of 4,459 TEUs containers and the unloading of 518 reconditioned vehicles from car carriers. Efforts have been made to boost ship arrivals at Mongla Port in the current fiscal year, as part of broader initiatives to enhance its operational capacity.

Makruzzaman detailed that 65 commercial ships arrived in the first month of the fiscal year, with an additional 15 vessels docking by August 6. Most of these ships were flagged under Panama, Liberia, Mongolia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

All ships, except the Liberian-flagged M V Ruian, have completed loading and unloading activities. M V Ruian is currently stationed at Jetty No. 9, waiting to unload 21,700 tonnes of machinery destined for the Power Grid Company.

As a critical trade gateway for southwestern Bangladesh, Mongla Port plays a vital role in national economic development. It supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and handles a wide array of imports including food grains, cement raw materials, clinker, fertilisers, automobiles, machinery, rice, wheat, coal, oil, stone, corn, oilseeds, molasses, and LPG gas.

On the export side, Mongla Port ships out products such as white fish, shrimp, jute and jute goods, frozen food, crabs, clay tiles, silk cloth, and general cargo. Since July 28, 2022, it has also facilitated the export of garment products, and since December 12, 2023, the import of frozen fruits.

In FY 2024-25, the MPA set a new benchmark by generating Tk 343.33 crore in revenue through the handling of 10.41 million tonnes of cargo. The port's net profit stood at Tk 62.1 crore, 203.49 percent higher than the targeted Tk 20.5 crore.

During the same period, Mongla Port imported 11,579 reconditioned vehicles and handled a total of 21,456 TEUs of containers, surpassing its target of 20,000 TEUs. The total volume of goods managed -- 10.412 million tones -- also exceeded the port authority's target of 8.88 million tonnes.