Diesel Tanker Arrives at Chattogram Port Amid Rising Demand

A tanker carrying 27,000 tons of diesel reached the waters of Chattogram Port on Monday, just 10 days after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Four more tankers are expected to arrive within a week, bringing a total of 147,205 tons of diesel to Bangladesh. The refined fuel is being imported from several Asian countries.

The arrival of diesel shipments comes at a time when demand has increased due to panic buying. To maintain adequate reserves, the government has reduced the daily supply of diesel.

According to sources at Chattogram Port, a tanker named Xiu Chi arrived in the port’s outer anchorage today from Singapore, carrying 27,204 tons of diesel. Vessel tracking organization MarineTraffic shows that the tanker is currently near Kutubdia.

Shipping agent sources said four more tankers will arrive one after another. The tanker Lian Huan Hu from Singapore is expected to reach the port tonight with around 30,000 tons of diesel. Another tanker, SPT Themis, carrying 30,484 tons of diesel, is scheduled to arrive on Thursday. Two additional tankers—Raffles Samurai and Chang Hang Hong Tu—are expected to arrive on Saturday, each carrying about 30,000 tons of diesel.

Nazrul Islam, Managing Director of Pride Shipping Lines, the local representative for these four tankers, told Prothom Alo that the vessels are expected to arrive within a week according to the scheduled timeline. Once they reach the port’s waters, unloading will begin in phases.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said the country’s normal daily diesel demand is around 12,000 tons. Based on that figure, the diesel from the five tankers could meet about 12 days of demand. However, since Sunday the government has reduced daily diesel supply to about 9,022 kiloliters, which would extend the supply to around 16 days.

Existing diesel reserves in the country can meet demand for another 16–17 days. Combined with the incoming shipments, Bangladesh will have enough diesel to meet about one month’s demand.

According to BPC, diesel accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s total fuel consumption, and most of it is met through direct imports.

Data from the National Board of Revenue shows that Bangladesh imported 2.328 million tons of diesel from nine countries between July and February of the current fiscal year. About 78 percent of these imports came from Singapore, Malaysia, and India, while no diesel was imported from Middle Eastern countries during this period.