Location Within Country: Dhaka

Mail: masaaki.kusano@n-kokudo.co.jp

Completion date (month/year): March 2020

The OFCT project study is the first study that took place in Bangladesh. The main focus of the study was to use the inland river route for different types of transportation, especially cargo and other water vehicles. That’s why J-DeEP assigned NVSL to do that study. The focus of the study was to investigate the logistics network using the J-DeEP proposed Offshore Floating Container Terminal (OFCT) Structure from the Bay of Bengal to the final destination. Initially, the tasks were divided into four sections: i) market demand analysis and forecasts up to 2040, (ii) legitimate condition analysis, (iii) probable location selection of three different sites considering different kinds of meteorological, hydrological, and other ocean factors. The following tasks were completed under the whole study by NVSL staff.  

• Market demand analysis and forecasting of the OFCT; 
• Initial site selection for the structure based on analysis of the different physical and forcing factors of the coastal zone; 
• SPC formation; Econometric Model Development for the demand investigation; 
• Whole project coordination; and;
• Inland waterways logistics analysis and forecasting;

Project outcome: 

1. Project planning and survey design;

2. Data and information collection;

3. Data analysis and report writing;

4. A detailed site selection report;

• Market Demand study

1. The demand for the container transaction at Chittagong or adjacent area for export/import towards 2030;
2. Current status of container yards capability and its problem;
3. Way of cargo transportation from Chittagong Port to Dhaka after the opening of the container;
4. The capability of the opening container near Chittagong Port (How many containers per day?);
5. Way of container transportation from Chittagong to Dhaka or other locations;
6. Current max and the average size of container ship/vessel serving at Chittagong;
7. Size of domestic container barge;
8. Critical issues for inland river cargo transportation;
9. Current status of Panagon Inland Container Terminal (ICT);

• Legitimate study

Legitimate　conditions to install and operate OFCT (relevant authorities, conditions precedent for approval, ownership of OFCT, and operator /service provider of OFCT, environmental assessment).

• Location selection study

1. Possible location to install OFCT (Channel, Island, water depth met ocean conditions) (Candidate is inside the river or behind the island to have more quiet water, wave height less than one meter);
2. Water depth of rivers in Delta area; (Remarks; These are made on –desk information and some data from MOS, CPA, etc. and covered in the scope of work);

4. Technical study

1. Technical study of flow water movement and movement of onboard heavy facilities (mainly tankage) by met ocean conditions (High tide, monsoon, tsunami);
2. Consider different kinds of coastal characteristics and coastal forcing factors and assess the vulnerability of the overall project site;

Run ArcGIS based hydrological model i.e., SWAN model for that area to assess the future sustainability of the project site;