Dhaka’s importers still facing long waits to get goods from Ctg port

It has been nearly a month that an automobile dealer has been waiting for a container loaded with reconditioned parts to reach the inland container depot (ICD) at Kamalapur, Dhaka from the Chattogram port over railway.

The parts, imported by M/s Partsco Automobiles of Munshiganj's Sirajdikhan from the United Arab Emirates, arrived at the port on August 17, only to add to a massive container backlog.

The yard designated for the ICD-bound containers has been clogged due to a 27-day suspension of railway services since July 18 amidst the countrywide student movement and another five-day suspension in late August for floods.

Around 70 percent of the goods arriving at the port are of importers based in Dhaka and surrounding areas.

Of those, around 3 percent are taken away over railways while the rest over roads and river routes.

The yard meant for the Kamalapur ICD-bound containers can run unobstructed at its standard capacity of 1,774 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

However, till the first week of August, 2,700 TEUs had been crammed inside.

Recently railway traffic has somewhat normalised and the situation has improved, according to a senior official of the traffic department of Chittagong Port Authority.

As of yesterday, the yard had 1,278 TEUs, he informed.

However, many of them had been there for anywhere for 17 to 18 days, he admitted on requesting anonymity.

At least 3 to 4 trains are departing for the Dhaka ICD daily, said Abdul Malek, railway station master of Chittagong Goods Port Yard (CGPY).

Each locomotive engine pulls 31 wagons. Each wagon can accommodate a fourty-foot equivalent unit, for which a locomotive can take away more than 31 containers if those are the 20 TEUs, he said.

But in case of 20 TEUs containing goods with a lot of weight, such as steel coils, machineries or motor parts, more than one container cannot be loaded onto a single wagon, he said.

Hoping that the situation would further improve in the coming days, the port officials stressed the need for operating more trains daily for speeding up the transport.

Such delays are causing immense losses for the importers as it translates to extra port and shipping charges.

Sojib Mridha, proprietor of Partsco Automobiles, said they imported the automobile parts based on a price range, but the market fluctuates as time passes and they were very near to missing out on trending deals.

"If we fail to supply products to customers on time as promised we lose trust which is a huge business loss," he said.

"Moreover, we now have to pay huge amount of demurrage to the port authority and shipping agent for the overstay of the container at the port," said Mridha.

"Small importers like us try to open a letter of credit (L/C) for an import with earnings being made on the sale of previous imports. Such long delays are hampering business," said the frustrated businessperson.

Like him, many importers based in Dhaka are now having to wait anywhere from 15 days to well over a month to get their consignments from the Chattogram port.

Staff of the clearing and forwarding agent overseeing the release of Mridha's consignment divulged that two other clients were similarly waiting for imports in containers which arrived at the port on August 26 and August 27.

The situation is improving, but then again it is a long delay for businesses heavily reliant on imports, said Sheikh Md Aslam, vice president of Dhaka Customs C&F Agents Association.