The history of Chittagong Port dates back to the 4th century B. C. This old port had sufficient trade with the Middle-East ports, China and other South East Asian countries. The Arabs and Yemeni traders landed at the port of Chittagong in the 9th century A. D. During the 16th century, the Portuguese took grate interest in the locality around Chittagong, which was then popularly known as PORTE GRANDE. The present location of the Port was, however, established in the year 1887. Previously the Port was administered jointly by Port Commissioners and Port Railway. For Administrative convenience the Port Trust was formed in July 1960. The Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 set a new trend in the external trade of Bangladesh. To cope with the rapid development and expansion of the Port, the government promulgated the Chittagong Port Authority Ordinance in 1976 and dissolved the Port Trust.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is an autonomous Organization; the Chairman is the Chief Executive of the Authority. The general direction and management of the Authority vests in a board, consisting of a Chairman and not more then four other members who are appointed by the government. The administration today, however, is carried by the Heads of Fifteen departments under the supervision and control of the Chairman and the members. CPA has 414 officers & 8241 staff. Chittagong Port has handled 27,998,786 M Tons of Cargo during the year 2004-05. This is the highest record of cargo handled in Chittagong Port, over & above 1916 vessels have been handled during the same period. CPA has also handled 746,008 TEUS of container during the year 2004-05.
In view of the continued growth of container and cargo handling at Chittagong Port, the Authority has taken up three members of development projects. The projects will be financed by the CPA’s own resources. There includes:
-Construction of one container terminal at New Mooring area of Chittagong Port having 1000 Meter long berth.
-Procurement of 141 container handling equipment including four ships to shore Quay Gantry crane.
-Construction and equipping of one 33K.V. sub-station and revolution of existing 11 K.V. sub-stations. The project has already been completed recently.
In addition to these the Authority has taken up three members of New Project (Investment) these includes:
-Chittagong Port Trade Facilitation Project
-Capital Dredging in the river karnapuli from Shah Bridge to Sadarghat
-Construction of one river based inland Container Terminal at pangaon, Dhaka under joint venture of BIWTA and CPA.
http://www.cpa.gov.bd