Goods delivery slow at Ctg port during Eid holidays

Initiatives have been taken to keep Chittagong Port, the country’s gateway to export and import, smoothly operational to avoid congestion but delivery of goods at the port has slowed significantly since the beginning of the Eid holiday on Friday. 

Mohammad Omar Faruq, Secretary of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), says cargo delivery normally decreases during the Eid holidays as almost all offices of importers and exporters remain closed leading to congestion of bulk cargo and containers at the port yards.

Many steps have been taken to keep the port open round the clock so that importers can take delivery of their goods but only a few have responded.

Port Sources said no container was delivered on Sunday, the Eid day. Only 1122TUS on Monday and 1500TUS on Tuesday were delivered. However, normally more than 4000TEUS containers are delivered every day.

In a letter issued by the port authority businesses were urged to take delivery of goods normally. Preparations were also taken to deliver import cargos at any time other than the eight-hour time of Eid. 

But only a few deliveries have now led the port yard to congestion. On Tuesday the port yard had 41,000 containers against a capacity of about 53,000TEUS.

Despite various measures during Eid, the situation of private ICDs handling of 100 per cent export goods and 23 per cent of import items of Ctg Port has improved very little.

Despite suspension of receiving exports two days before Eid about 4,000 truckloads of goods are still waiting in front of various ICDs.

Port sources said around 1000TEUs export containers are in 18 ICDs.

Ruhul Amin Sikder Biplob, Secretary, Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, (BICDA), said very few staff worked during Eid vacation while many are still on leave.

Moreover, many workers of ICD-bound vehicles are not joining work as they are on the Eid holiday.

At present, the situation in ICDs is better than before Eid, he said. Still around 4000 loaded vehicles are waiting to enter into ICDs but the situation will improve within a week.

Two weeks before Eid, there was an unprecedented transport crisis with thousands of trucks carrying goods waiting in front of ICDs for days. Business communities, especially garment exporters, have complained that ICD owners have deliberately adopted a go-slow policy.

Syed Nazrul Islam, Senior Vice-President of BGMEA, said trucks carrying goods had to wait in front of ICDs for a minimum of three days and a maximum of 7-8 days causing huge financial losses to the exporters.

Meanwhile, the crisis in the ICDs combined with little work in port during the Eid holiday has forced some ships to leave the port with relatively fewer containers.

Muntasir Rubaiyat, an official of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, said: “One of our ships on the Singapore route and several others on the Colombo route of other agents left the port without scheduled export.”

This is usual during the Eid holidays because the procedures cannot be completed as the officials and employees of almost all sectors remains on Eid vaccation while the ships have to leave the port within 72 hours of berthing at the jetty.