Chittagong Port Authority has issued seven special proposals stating that there is no complication in the transportation, delivery and shipping of imported and exported goods through Chittagong Port. If these seven proposals are followed and properly coordinated, the global crisis will not have a negative impact on the country's import-export trade.
According to sources, the recent Covid epidemic has caused shipwrecks in various ports around the world with Singapore and Colombo for lockdown in various countries. As a result of lockdown in different countries, labor crisis, imbalance in import-export trade, congestion in various ports of the world are hampering the transportation of goods around the world. It takes 8-10 days for a ship to land at a jetty in one of the transshipment ports. As a result, there is a delay in getting connections of exportable containers from small ports like Bangladesh, India, Cambodia to the ports used as transshipment hubs.
Even after the container reaches these ports from Chittagong port, it takes an average of two weeks to get the connection. But the import and export activities of Covid-19 epidemic have been carried out smoothly in Chittagong port and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, cargo at Chittagong port grew by 11.98 percent, container by 3.09 percent and ships by 7.92 percent in FY 2020-21.
According to port sources, more than 40,000 TEUS empty containers are stored in Chittagong port and private ICDs. Of these, the ICD has 13,647 in 20-foot, 12,689 in 40-foot containers. There are 2,431 in 20-foot and 1,477 in 40-foot empty containers inside Chittagong port. As a result, there is no shortage of empty containers in Chittagong port. Port sources also said that the growing export demand could be easily met by coordinating the empty containers of different MLO in Bangladesh through interchange.
Chittagong Port Secretary Mohammad Omar Faruq said an average of 10-12 ships carrying import-export goods come and go in Chittagong Port every day. Analyzing the data of the ships, it is seen that each ship is carrying 25-30 percent of its actual carrying capacity in the empty slots. As a result, there is no shortage of ships in Chittagong port for transporting goods. The stay of container ships at the outer anchorage has recently been limited to 2-3 days. Transportation of goods will be much easier if coordination is done through implementation of common carrier agreements between different MLOand feeder operators. Currently, there is no such agreement between the MLO and even though there is an agreement between someMLO, it has not been implemented which is having a negative impact on the transportation of containers. Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Md. Omar Faruq said that the common carrier agreement of feeder vessel operators has effectively implemented each other's slot usage system, MLOuse each other's containers through container interchange, export goods from Chittagong port to convenient Chinese ports. Foreign buyers specify MLO and feeder vessels for the transportation of exported goods.
Without that, if there are different options for transporting goods in available ships and containers, the activities will be smooth.
If BGMEA and domestic exporters coordinate with their buyers, such a monopoly crisis will be overcome. This will create dynamism in the transportation of goods and there will be no risk of any kind of complication.
Hepak Lloyd, a leading German companyhas suspended its Bangladesh-bound container booking through the Singapore port for four weeks due to congestion at the Singapore port. Instead, they advised their customers to book containers in Bangladesh through the port of Colombo. Hepac Lloyd has no ships of its own, commenting that the company transports goods on other ships. They will transport goods on the Chittagong-Colombo route instead of the Singapore-Chittagong route. Sources also said that this will not affect the import-export activities of Bangladesh.
Sources said that the current global problem of transportation of imported and exported goods through containers can be resolved through coordination between BGMEA, MLO, freight forwarders, feeder vessel operators and buyers. The High Commissions of Singapore and Sri Lanka in Bangladesh can play an important role for fast transportation to the next destination through Mother Vessel.
