Saudi port operator Red Sea Gateway Terminal International has formally launched full-scale operations at Patenga Container Terminal in Chattogram after a $170m investment, according to Red Sea Gateway Terminal.
The inauguration follows two years of infrastructure and operational development at the terminal, where commercial operations began in June 2024. RSGT Bangladesh operates Patenga under a 22-year concession signed with the Chittagong Port Authority in December 2023, making RSGTI the first foreign terminal operator at a Bangladeshi port.
The terminal was inaugurated in Dhaka on 14 July. Representatives of the Chittagong Port Authority, Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC and PIL attended.
The development included four ship-to-shore cranes worth about $30m, 14 hybrid rubber-tyred gantry cranes, a container scanner, expanded container yards and warehousing, and digital systems including a customer e-portal. The four electric ship-to-shore cranes completed the deployment of the terminal’s main handling equipment. They can handle two 20-foot containers simultaneously and vessels carrying containers across up to 16 rows.
RSGTI expects Patenga to handle about 400,000 TEU in 2026, equal to roughly 12% of Chattogram Port’s container traffic. Throughput is forecast to exceed 500,000 TEU in 2027, or about 17% of the port’s volume.
“We aspire to invest up to $1 billion in the country’s port and logistics sector,” RSGTI group chief executive and RSGT Bangladesh chairman Lars Vang Christensen said. More than 98% of RSGTI’s employees in Bangladesh are Bangladeshi. The operator has provided domestic and overseas training, including port operations training in Saudi Arabia.
Jeddah-headquartered RSGTI was established in 2009 and manages six container and multipurpose terminals in Saudi Arabia and overseas, with combined capacity exceeding 9.5m TEU and 30m tonnes of general cargo. RSGT Bangladesh is the group company operating Patenga.