Mongla Port Restrictions, Vessel Size & Berth Guide

Mongla Port, Bangladesh's second-largest seaport, sits on the east bank of the Pasur River roughly 71 nautical miles upstream from the Bay of Bengal, sheltered by the Sundarbans mangrove forest. It handles breakbulk, project cargo, vehicles, clinker, fertilizer, grain, coal, salt, LPG, edible oils and containers. Mongla planning remains vessel-specific: use the latest MPA movement order, berth schedule, pilot advice and tide window rather than a historic single draft or transit figure. Confirm current Mongla Port Authority particulars for draft, berth and traffic before the call.

Maximum Vessel Size by Cargo Type

Charts & Publications

Digital charts BD307425, BD407426, BD57451A/B and BD57452A/B; paper chart BA IN351 / US 63320; and Admiralty publication NP21 (Bay of Bengal Pilot) cover the approach and port limits.

Jetties, Moorings & Anchorages

Mongla operates two main port jetties (Jetty-8 and Jetty-9, both 170 m LOA / 7 m draft) alongside private berths (Kleenheat, MCML, SKF), six numbered mooring buoys, the Base Creek and Harbouria anchorages, the Akram Point anchorage, and an outer anchorage (CO-A/CO-B) accommodating vessels up to 230 m LOA with draft to 12 m.

Jessore domestic airport is 112 km away; Chittagong's international airport is 180 km. Fuel is available on prior notice.

Draft Limits Are Set to Improve

The biggest constraint at Mongla has long been the Pasur channel itself: vessels drawing more than about 9 metres can generally only transit at high tide. That's now being addressed under a five-year conservation dredging project in the Pasur channel, approved by the ECNEC in January 2025 and being carried out under Bangladesh Navy supervision at a cost of about Tk 1,538 crore. The plan removes around 34.75 million cubic metres of silt and is expected to let an additional 100 vessels a year work at draughts of 9.5 to 10 metres at the jetty once complete.

Alongside the dredging, two new jetties are planned that would eventually take the port's handling capacity up toward 800,000 TEU of containers and 4 million tonnes of bulk cargo a year. None of this changes today's operating limits, but it's worth factoring into planning for vessels expected to call at Mongla over the next few years, since the draft restriction that shapes berth and anchorage decisions now is exactly what this project is meant to relax.