Bangladesh covers an area of 147,570 sq km, a little more than the size of Greece. It extends from 20°34 N to 26°38 N latitude and from 88°01 E to 92°41 E longitude. Maximum extension is about 440 km in the E-W direction and 760 km in the NNW-SSE direction. The country is bounded in the south by the Bay of Bengal. Although Bangladesh is a small country, the length of the coastline is more than 580 km. Chittagong port is the premier port of Bangladesh, located 15 km from the open sea. The port is situated on the banks of the Karnaphuli River. The port limit of Chittagong port outer anchorage is bounded by area with radius of 5.6 nautical miles( on the west side) from Patenga light beacon at position Lat. 22 13.54 N long, 91 48.2 E . All climatic/hydrographic information relating to CPA( Chittagong Port Authority) outer anchorage is being well documented and promulgated by various nautical publications.

The weather in Bangladesh is largely governed by the monsoon. The prevailing wind directions are from south to southeast during the month of April through September. After taking an easterly direction for a while, The wind turns to the northerly and northeasterly directions, The latter prevails from November to January. During the month of February and March, winds turn via westerly direction back to the transition periods between monsoon and season in May, October and November, extreme of inclement weather like cyclones often occur with wind velocity in excess of 30 knots. The waves are generally low showing distinct relation with the wind. The waves period vary between 3-4 seconds of waves of about 0.5 meters and about 6 seconds for waves of 2 meters. During the months May to October, freshets are expected. Freshets are caused by the normal velocity of flow of EBB tide augmented by the flow of an additional volume of water that drains into the river Karnaphuli from the catchment areas. Freshets are expected when rainfall intensity reaches 200 mm in  3 Inquiry.

info@bdpni.comLightening of cargo at Chittagong outer anchorage becomes relatively more difficult with the onset of monsoon and the period from May to October is considered as the monsoon. At any time within this period, rough sea and inclement weather is a common feature of the weather condition and often the weather condition deteriorates so abruptly that incidents, such as the one under consideration, becomes unavoidable. During this period, lighter vessels fastened alongside mother vessel experience heavy rolling and pitching often causing hard scarping, bendings and indentations to the mother vessels railing and hull.

The following Navigational Aids guide ships to approach the Port of Chittagong. REFERENCE 
a) Admiralty Chart No. 84″ Approaches to the “Karnafuli River” Bay of Bengal Folio.
b) Admiralty Chart No. 859″ “Elephant point to Matla River” Bay of Bengal Folio.
c) Bay of Bengal Pilot.