Just a few days before Eid-ul-Azha, the country’s import and export activities have been severely affected by a crisis in the cargo transport sector.

After the BM Container Depot fire and ahead of the Eid holidays, an increased amount of cargo movement has slowed down activities at all 18 Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in and around Chattogram city, which in turn has left cargo vehicles waiting outside for at least three-four days.
Nagad

As a result, the cost of transporting all types of export goods, especially garments, from Dhaka to Chattogram has risen threefold and for imported goods twofold from the port city to Dhaka, said movers and traders.

Sources said the transport crisis, which started about a month ago and reached its peak over the past few days, has put additional pressure on the ICDs, which handle 100 per cent of exports and 23 per cent of imports to and from the Chattogram Port.

Thousands of trucks, covered vans and prime movers are currently waiting in front of all the ICDs. Vehicles are even forced to wait 72-96 hours, said Chowdhury Zafar Ahmmed, secretary general of Bangladesh Covered Van Truck Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association.

“This is an unprecedented crisis. We haven’t seen anything like this in recent times. Due to this, recently transport booking has risen significantly. That, coupled with the insane waiting time, has pushed up the fares severalfold recently,” he added.

Sources at Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) said that currently there are around 14,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export containers, 8,500 TEUs of import containers and 36,000 empty containers in 18 ICDs, except for the BM Container Depot which was gutted in a fire last month.

Although all 19 ICDs in and around Chattogram have a combined capacity of 79,000 TEUs, they do not have enough space in their warehouses for the stuffing procedure of exporting goods in containers.

BICDA Secretary Ruhul Amin Sikder Biplob said, “The ICDs can hold up to 20,000 more TEUs of containers. But the combined space of all ICD warehouses is about 2.4 million square feet and all of that is full of goods.”

While the spaces in the warehouse become free after goods are stuffed in containers, vehicles carrying the same amount of goods enter and unload, he said, explaining why the warehouses are running low on space and failing to release the vehicles at the soonest.

On Wednesday, there were several kilometres-long queues of cargo vehicles in front of all ICDs that have been waiting for several days. Most of them are loaded with export-oriented garments while the rest are waiting to‍ enter the ICDs and bring out imported goods.

The queues have been causing a lot of gridlocks in the areas with multiple ICDs, especially the port, Patenga and Port Link Road (locally known as Toll Road), and Faujdarhat intersection on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway.

Meanwhile, Chattogram Port Authority Secretary Mohammad Omar Faruk said the crisis was created by the increased amount of export cargos in the ICDs.

“This type of situation occurs from time to time. Excessive cargo pressure on ICDs will gradually decrease since port operations are remaining dynamic,” he added.

On Wednesday, at least 30,000 trucks, prime movers and covered vans loaded with export goods were waiting in front of the ICDs, said sources at Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and other related trade bodies.

Under the circumstances, cargo vehicle owners and drivers are now demanding increased fares as they are worried about getting stuck in queues in front of the ICDs with the products and waiting several days before unloading.

BGMEA Vice-President Rakibul Alam Chowdhury said, “No vehicle wants to carry goods to ICDs now and those who agree to go are demanding double or triple the fare.”

He said traders were being forced to pay three times the fare to send the goods from Dhaka to Chattogram. “The fare was between Tk 4,000 and Tk 5,000 earlier. Now one has to pay at least Tk 20,000.” According to transport sector sources, on Wednesday, the fare of a covered van for transporting goods from Dhaka to Chittagong reached Tk 55,000-60,000, which was normally around Tk 20,000-22,000 earlier.

Moreover, a covered van’s fare for taking goods from Chattogram to Dhaka has gone up to Tk 28,000-30,000, which was normally Tk 15,000-17,000.

The situation is the same for the other types of cargo vehicles, including trucks, prime movers and lorries, as well.