Bangladesh has beefed up security at its main Chittagong port after a shipping body said the area around it was the second most unsafe in Asia following pirate attacks on ships, officials said on Thursday.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said in a recent report that 58 attacks against ships were recorded in and the around Chittagong port in 2003, second only to 121 reported attacks in Indonesian waters in the same year.
"We have increased the number of security personnel and added few other measures to combat attacks on vessels, stop stowaways slipping from foreign vessels or getting onboard them," said A.M.M. Shahadat Hossain, chairman of Chittagong Port Authority.
Some Southeast Asian nations have raised concerns over pirate attacks on ships, saying they resembled military operations and were growing bolder and more violent and fuelled fears they would cripple world trade.
The United States is considering plans for a Regional Maritime Security Initiative to tighten surveillance of Southeast Asia's busy Malacca Strait, through which a third of world trade passes.
Singapoare has said it fears terrorists could seize a tanker with lethal cargo and turn it into a floating bomb to launch attacks on ports.
Hossain said the port authority had also drawn up a set of safety regulations as sought by the IMO, which monitors global ship movement and regulate measurers for safety of the sailors, vessels and cargo.
CPA officials, however, said the IMO often recorded cases of small thefts on vessels as pirate attacks.
Moderate Muslim Bangladesh's Chittagong handles nearly 30 million tonnes cargo including 600,000 containers a year, accounting for some 80 percent of the country's external trade.
"The first phase of implementation of the safety regulations has already been completed," Hossain said, adding the next phase will include setting up of container scanners and automated identification system with close circuit TV for monitoring movement of ships and individuals.
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