Singapore has retained its position as the world’s leading maritime centre for a 13th consecutive year in the 2026 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index (ISCDI). The city-state was placed first again on the strength of its strategic geography, robust port services and technological innovation.
The rest of the top ten comprise Shanghai, London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Rotterdam, New York, Athens and Hamburg, in that order. Xinhua and the Baltic Exchange have been publishing the index since 2014, ranking the world’s top 20 port cities every year.
Chattogram, Bangladesh’s main gateway for foreign trade and a port city that handles customs-cleared imports and exports worth more than BDT 11 trillion annually, has never featured in the global list. The city, often dubbed Bangladesh’s “Singapore”, instead makes headlines each year for waterlogging, fatal drain drownings, traffic gridlock and other afflictions.
Stakeholders say a strategic location, seaport, industrial base and blue economy potential notwithstanding, a shortfall in long-term planning, institutional fragility, centralised power and a crisis of urban management are preventing Chattogram from emerging as an internationally competitive maritime economic hub.
A separate ranking of top port cities by DNV Publication and Menon Economics also omits Chattogram. The latest edition of that index lists Singapore, Rotterdam, London, Shanghai and Oslo as the top five, drawn from a field of 30 cities.
Bangladesh has nevertheless set a target to remake Chattogram port’s operations on Singapore’s model by 2029. The government says talks are underway with Singapore’s PSA to attract foreign investment to build and operate the port’s new Bay Terminal. The modernisation programme aims to slash vessel turnaround times and expand cargo handling capacity. Once all container terminals are operational, the government asserts, Chattogram will be able to offer services as fast as Singapore and Colombo by 2029.
Leading international carrier CMA CGM has launched a Singapore-to-Chittagong feeder service, directly connecting the seaports of Bangladesh and Singapore for cargo and energy shipments.
The two countries also aim to finalise a free trade agreement by the end of 2026 to dismantle remaining barriers to bilateral trade.
Even as Chattogram looks to Singapore for its port and city development, stakeholders say the city has failed to secure basic civic amenities. Urban planners argue that masterplans for the port city have existed for years, but patchy execution has deepened its dysfunction. The agencies responsible have not developed the city competently, denying residents the full benefit of drainage systems, flyovers and the elevated expressway.
Professor Muhammad Rashidul Hasan of the urban and regional planning department at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) told Bonik Barta: “The Purbachal Masterplan in 1995 prescribed digging four new canals to resolve drainage, complete with layout and costings. No action was taken. After 2015 we tried to deliver it at a much higher cost, but the canal lands had been lost to encroachment. Our predecessors documented exactly what needed doing. Regrettably, our agencies lack coordination.”
Three agencies have largely completed projects worth about BDT 140 billion to tackle waterlogging, yet Chattogram still submerges under prolonged heavy rain.
Shanghai has meanwhile overtaken London to claim second place in the ISCDI rankings after several years of steady advance.
Rotterdam’s story is more remarkable. Much of the Dutch city lies below sea level — a natural risk far greater than Chattogram’s. Yet it has built itself into one of the world’s leading port cities, reliably holding a top-10 ranking through dykes, canals, pumping stations, artificial reservoirs and smart water management.
Chattogram’s reality is starkly different. The port city has yet to overcome a basic crisis of urban management. Residents say waterlogging, traffic gridlock, canal encroachment, hill-cutting, haphazard housing, weak waste management and uncoordinated development projects smother its potential year after year.
Waterlogging is not caused by heavy rainfall alone. Stakeholders argue that filled canals, indiscriminate dumping and a constricted drainage network have sealed the city’s natural outfall. Unplanned road construction has added to the burden: roads were raised without matching the level of adjacent drains and homes, so even a light shower traps water. Where the world’s advanced coastal cities have built integrated infrastructure to expel stormwater rapidly, Chattogram divides responsibility across multiple agencies while integrated action and accountability remain feeble.
Md Zafar Alam, a former board member of the Chattogram Port Authority, told Bonik Barta: “A city doesn’t develop on infrastructure alone; it rests on good governance, institutional capacity and policy continuity. The world’s successful coastal cities have forged long-term economic strategies anchored to their geography. Chattogram is yet to exploit that strategic advantage fully. But the potential is not exhausted. The Matarbari deep-sea port, the blue economy, regional connectivity, the Karnaphuli Tunnel, special economic zones and new industrial ventures are opening fresh doors. That potential will be realised only when urban management, flood control, environmental conservation and effective inter-agency coordination are secured.”
Various rankings project that Singapore will remain the world’s leading maritime centre for at least another five years. That resilience flows from long-term, effective planning. Chattogram, on the other hand, has pursued project-based development without securing durable urban management or land-use control. Canal restoration schemes were launched but encroachment never stopped. Drains were built, then lost their function for a lack of routine maintenance.
Stakeholders say the city now confronts a clear fork: become a stable, competitive port city on the model of Singapore, Rotterdam or Shanghai, or remain trapped in a cycle of unplanned urbanisation, waterlogging and mismanagement. Nature supplied the endowments of an ideal port city. Planning and management have yet to harness them.
Engineer Belyat Hossain, the newly appointed chairman of the Chattogram Development Authority, said: “We must accept that Chattogram, a vital engine of the national economy, is still afflicted by waterlogging, unplanned urbanisation and a lack of coordination. To meet these challenges, the CDA will work in close concert with the city corporation, WASA, the Power Development Board, the gas department, traffic authorities and all relevant institutions. We need to build a modern, liveable Chattogram where civic services are easily accessible and development proceeds in balance with the environment and nature. There’s no room for further delay in implementing a scientific and modern plan for the port city. Development projects will be designed with input from urban planners, environmentalists, researchers and experts.”