Photo : Collected
The Chittagong Port Authority informed that the importers who faced extra charges for not being able to take delivery of goods from the port in the last week due to unrest situation across the country may apply to the shipping ministry for waiving extra charges.
“Operational activities inside the port were normal as usual. We handled all the containers during these days. But the importers were not able to take delivery of goods from the port as internet services were suspended for a couple of days,” CPA secretary and spokesperson Mohd Omar Faruk told The Daily Messenger on Thursday.
As per the existing tariff structure importers are allowed to keep a container at the port for four days free of charge after unloading from the ship. The importer has to pay 6 USD for a 20 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit TEU container and 12 USD for a 40 TEU container for the next seven days. For the next nine days, the importer has to pay 24 USD for a 20 TEU container and 48 USD for a 40 TEU container per day. The tariff will go up fourfold on containers kept at the yard for more than 20 days. After 30 days, unreleased containers will be moved to the auction shed.
Only a few containers could be released from the Chattogram port as the internet services remained suspended from July 18 to July 23 all over the country following the data center, located at the capital’s Mohakhali, badly damaged after violent protesters set fire on the establishments.
A total of 41,000 TEUs containers were stored till Thursday while its total capacity of about 51,000 TEUs containers, according to the CPA sources.
According to international standards, one-third of the yard has to be kept vacant for the regular operation of the port.
CPA secretary Mohd Omar Faruk said that goods delivery at Chattogram port was widely hampered in the last week due to internet services shut down following the students’ protest over quota reform movement.
“As per rules, the importers may apply to the shipping ministry for waiving the extra charges as the port authority is not the concerned authority for the issue. It completely depends on the government,’ he added.
Quazi Mahmud Imam Bilu, general secretary of Chattogram Customs Agents Association, told The Daily Messenger that they urged the government and concerned ministry to waive the extra charge for the five days during the unrest situation.
“Importers will face huge losses if they have to pay the extra charges,” he added.
Syed Nazrul Islam, first vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association told The Daily Messenger that they wrote letters to Chittagong Port Authority, Customs Agents Association and other concerned stakeholders regarding the matter on Thursday.
However, a total of 3604 TEUs containers were delivered in the past 24 hours till Thursday 12:00pm, according to the CPA secretary.
