No new ICD near Ctg port: NBR

No new inland container depot (ICD) will be allowed to be set up within the Chattogram city and the country’s premier seaport, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) says.

In its latest circular issued last month, the NBR says new ICDs should be established 20km away from the port boundary.

Currently, there are 19 privates ICDs adjacent to the Chattogram port that handle all export containers and some 36 items which are 23 per cent of import containers of the country.

Fakhrul Alam, commissioner of Customs House Chittagong, said the old ICDs have to be relocated in phases.

He clarified that there is no time limit for the relocation and said the ICD owners had been told to prepare for moving out. Space shortage at the port paved the way for private ICDs in the country in 2000. The private ICDs can store 78,700 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) containers.

Last year, Chittagong Port handled about 32 lakh TEUs and the growth in this area is about 13 per cent compared to the year before.

As the import-export volume increased over the years, the need for more ICDs became apparent. At a meeting last year, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials suggested doubling the number of private ICDs.

ICDs are being operated through coordination between the port authorities and the customs. Issues such as land shortage and increasing traffic congestion prompted calls to move them out of the city. A similar recommendation came from top Chittagong Development Authority officials at a recent event.

CPA Secretary Mohammad Omar Farouque told The Business Post that the port authorities adopted policies in 2018 to establish ICD in areas 20km from the port. He said the NBR’s circular would make regulating ICDs easier.

Multiple meetings of the port’s advisory committee proposed moving the ICDs out of the city. Ruhul Amin Biplob, secretary of Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, said NBR’s policy on ICDs had everyone’s consent.

He noted that since there was no mention in the new policy regarding old ICDs, the location issue won’t apply to them.

Preparations are underway to set up three new ICDs. Among them, an ICD named Bay-Link has been established in the Barabkundo area of the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. Although its location is according to the new policy, two other ICDs -- CCBL and Anchor -- are being set up close to the port. The new ICDs had obtained permission before the circular was issued.

According to port sources, preparations are underway to construct several more ICDs adjacent to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway because 70 per cent of the containers coming through Chittagong Port are bound for Dhaka.