Home ›› 28 Jul 2022 ›› Front
Businessmen and experts have demanded the government formulate a national logistics policy to improve the local transport system and enhance trade competitiveness.
As export and import sectors are growing, the ports in the country have been struggling for years to deal with the goods in absence of competitive logistic support, they said.
They also said a modern warehouse system should be introduced along with automation in all port activities, adding that everything would have been systematic if a logistics policy was in place.
“The Chattogram port alone over the years has been acting as the principal gateway, handling about 85 per cent of the country’s seaborne trade. But we are failing to cope with the growing demand for logistics support,” said Mamun Habib, a professor at Independent University Bangladesh, at a dialogue at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday. The event was arranged by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh.
On the Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index 2022, Bangladesh ranked 39th out of 50 emerging countries, including China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh secured a score of only 4.44 out of 10 due to poor performance in four indicators – domestic logistic opportunities, international logistic opportunities, business fundamentals, and digital readiness.
“Now is the time to think about how to improve our performance in the indicators,” Mamun said, adding the country needs new inland container depots (ICDs) to handle the increased volume of exports.
Currently, the Chattogram port’s 19 private ICDs have a container storage capacity of 76,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and while there is around 25-30 per cent vacant space.
The storage capacity needs to be upgraded to one lakh TEUs to cope with the growing apparel exports that aim to reach $100 billion by 2030. Exporters are already facing a crisis of vehicles and high truck fares due to a backlog of goods.
M Masrur Reaz, chairman of Policy Exchange of Bangladesh, said logistics is one area where gaining significant efficiency is possible. “All we need to do is formulate a national logistics policy and bring everything under a framework.”
He said a trailer’s per kilometre cost in Bangladesh according to the World Bank’s assessment is 12 cents while it is six cents in Indonesia and 2.4 cents in India.
“If we can decrease congestion at the Chattogram port today, our exports will go up by 7.4 per cent. If we can reduce domestic logistics costs by about 15 per cent, our overall exports can go up by 7.4 per cent,” he added.
Naquib Khan, president of Bangladesh Supply Chain Management Society, said ports in Bangladesh take more time to offload goods compared to other countries, increasing logistics costs.
“Exports are growing but there is not enough logistics support. Our products get stuck on roads, in warehouses, and at ports,” he said.
Kabir Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said the country needs more investment in the ports to remove all the obstacles.
He said the customs system should be modernised now.
Syed Ershad Ahmed, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh, chaired the session.
