US coast guard team visits Ctg port to scrutinise ISPS code

A two-member delegation of United States Coast Guard (USCG) has visited the Chattogram Port to scrutinise the compliance of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

The delegates on Tuesday inspected the overall activities of the port including yard, jetty, CFS (container freight station), port entrances, CCTV camera at the port.

Prior to that, the USCG team had meetings with the Port Facility Security Officers at the port building. Officials of Summit Alliance Port Ltd (SAPL), South Eastern Tank Terminal Limited, Premier LP Gas Ltd, Meghna Oil Company Ltd and Eastern Refinery Ltd joined the meeting.

The delegation is scheduled to visit several private inland container depots on Wednesday, Chattogram Port Director (Security) Lt Col Mostafa Arif-ur-Rahman Khan told TBS.

After inspecting the security activities of the port, two members of the US Coast Guard expressed satisfaction over the overall security measures, he added.

He further said a delegation of the International Ship and Port Facility (ISPS) would visit Bangladesh next August.

Prior to this visit of ISPS team, the two-member team from the US Coast Guard paid an informal visit, Col Mostafa added.

In consultation with the United States, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is implementing the ISPS code to prevent any terrorist activity from taking place under the guise of transporting goods by sea.

Since 2004, the IMO has made it mandatory to implement the ISPS code for security in ports around the world. Chattogram Port is implementing compliance with this code.

Earlier, the ISPS team visited Chattogram port six times. The last visit was in August 2019.

During the inspection, the ISPS team gave various instructions including bringing the port area under CCTV cameras, removing the goods inside the port without unloading them, and establishing traffic control inside the port.