China-Flagged Fan Zhou-6 Berths at Payra Port with Five Modern Equipment

After a two-year gap, the China-flagged vessel “Fan Zhou-6” has berthed at the first terminal of Payra Port in Kalapara, Patuakhali. The vessel arrived at the terminal at around 10:30am on Wednesday carrying five modern cargo-handling equipment purchased by the port authority. These include two quay gantry cranes with a capacity of 80 tonnes each, two rubber-tyred gantry cranes with a capacity of 40 tonnes each, and a mobile harbour crane with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes.

The port authority said the equipment was purchased to make cargo and container handling at the first terminal faster and more efficient. The 168-metre-long vessel, with a draft of six metres, left China’s Pingtan Port for Payra on September 18.

Payra Port Chairman Rear Admiral Syed Saif-Ul Islam said two other mother vessels had previously berthed directly at the first terminal to unload cargo. The MV Zain arrived on May 15, 2024, carrying 50,000 metric tonnes of stone, while the MV Da Hong-16 arrived on November 1 of the same year with 48,000 metric tonnes of stone. The port authority said various initiatives are being taken to develop Payra into a digital port, alongside dredging work to address navigability problems in the Rabnabad Channel.