The Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) is facing drawbacks as huge piles of non-essential items, recently unloaded at the customs warehouses, are not being picked up by the concerned importers due to restrictions. The situation has created huge stacks of non-essential items in the warehouses at the port which need urgent clearing to enable essential food item to clear and make space so that they can be delivered to other parts of the country at a time when lock down order is enforced for public.
The imported food items include grains, sugar, wheat, lentils, fruits, milk, baby food, edible oils and medicines and various types of supplements that are used for patients. According to sources, most of the imported food items, some also perishables, have occupied majorities of the spaces inside the customs warehouses in addition to the non-essential items. This situation has forced the port authority to decide to rent suitable spaces outside the port areas.
“We are not able to cope with the influx of the essential food,” said one of the customs officers adding, “We thought the items would be delivered smoothly but many of the importers are not picking up their consignment on time.” It is learnt that the customs office remains open for just two hours a day during the lockdown period and is only releasing cargoes carrying food and medicines, meaning containers carrying non-essential goods are left over piling in storage in the port yard since the general holiday started on March 26.
Meanwhile, the port officials and exporters and importers met in an emergency meeting on Tuesday at Chattogram circuit house to overcome the situation. At the meeting, the port authorities have urged importers to take delivery of goods from port warehouses on an urgent basis. The importers, however, demanded that to take quick deliveries of the essential items the government must also consider relaxing the lock down hours.
Jafor Alam, Member (Admin) of Chattogram Port said, “We have very little space inside the warehouses in the port. If the importers do not clear the take delibveries iof their products we would be in even deeper crisis.” “Considering the grave situation we are now planning to send the goods by smaller boats to other parts of the country for temporary storage.” He said that there are 20 private-owned Inland Container Depots ICDs where it is possible to store a total of 16,000- 20,000 containers.
For the past one week, Container loading and unloading dropped to 3,000 units (TEUS) in a single day, where it was around 8000 units at the same time in last year. Last year, an average of 3,000 unit containers was delivered from the port every day, now there are only 1,600 unit containers is delivering. It took an average of two and a half days to lift the container from a ship. It takes four to five days now.
The total container storage capacity of Chattogram port is approximately 50,000 containers. “Though lockdown is ongoing, we also proposed to open some public and private offices in coordination with the port,” Jafor Alam added. The Chattogram Custom House source said the submission of bills of entry has decreased as customs activities have been limited and taxation on all goods, except for emergency foods, medicine, and raw industrial materials, has stopped.
Fakhrul Alam, a commissioner at the Chattogram Customs, said the office (Customs) is operational even during this crisis. But importers or C&F agents do not come to get their goods released. Importers have refrained from having their products released because industries have been shut amid the coronavirus scare.
According to port sources, about 40 percent of the currently stacked goods in port is owned by garment exporters. Many garment owners own customs bonded warehouses. Port officials have also suggested garments owners taking their products there. Abdus Salam, first vice-president of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, BGMEA said, "Apparel exports have declined to a large extent due to the worldwide lockdown in the novel coronavirus pandemic. Production is completely off now. Orders are being canceled every moment.”
“As production is completely off, no staff are on duty. No vehicles are found to carry goods from the port. We urged the port authority to reduce tariffs and duties,” He added.