Financial and Operational Performance: Evidence from Chittagong Port Authority in Bangladesh

Abstract

A port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo. They are usually found at the edge of an ocean, sea, river or lake. In the last few decades, due to huge upshot of globalization, the world economy has experienced rapid growth in shipping industry and international trade. Bangladesh with a population of 150 million has a remarkable volume of international trade of which 80% in sea borne. Although two seaports, namely Chittagong and Mongla, are the gateways, Bangladesh use its largest sea port Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to connect to the whole world. CPA handles nearly 90% of all sea borne trade, highlighting its importance to the economy of Bangladesh in spite of several deficiencies. CPA contributes to 33% of Bangladesh GOVT. revenue. Bangladesh being a global front-runner in the RMG exports has also achieved significant position in some other export items like leather goods, jute, tea and frozen foods. On the other hand, Bangladesh imports electronic and automobiles goods, consumer goods, chemical etc. from china, Japan and India. Due to significant contribution to the total country’s revenue and growth, it has become very important to analyze the Efficiency of CPA. This study uses different financial and statistical tools in analyzing the efficacy of CPA.

Keywords: Financial performance, operational performance, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), ratio analysis.