Bangladesh's containerised trade has defied the global economic meltdown as the premier seaport Chittagong achieved an 8.55 percent container handling growth in the last calendar year, the Financial Express reported.

Shipping circles said this was mainly because of the rise in import volume.

The Chittagong port, the principal port of the country, handles 92 percent of the export-import trade worth US$37 billion.

The port handled 1,161,469 TEUs in 2009. Of them, the number of import (including empty) containers was 584,176 TEUs in 2009 against 531,954 TEUs in 2008. Export containers (including empty) totalled 577,293 TEUs against 531,954 TEUs in 2008.