THE Chattogram Port has been facing space crisis for the last few months as bulk quantity of imported goods in 7000 containers remained abandoned. Container jam in Chattogram Port is an old problem. But recent ineptness in container handling has made the situation more critical. If the goods are left abandoned in the Port, the government is deprived of getting a huge amount of taxes. The undelivered goods in the containers also mean its respective shipping agents are incurring losses as they no longer get rent for the containers from the importers. Apart from the loss in rent, the agents also had to bear the cost of dumping perishable goods and pay electricity bills to the Port Authority for the refrigerated containers.
More than a hundred types of goods including cosmetics, chemicals, plastics, automobiles, electronic goods, leather goods, construction materials, tiles and ceramics are among the unreleased goods. The Customs Law states that importers have to take delivery of goods within 30 days of those reaching the Port; defaulting on the timeline results in the Customs Authority starting the procedures to auction the goods. However, failure to hold a timely auction for the goods has also resulted in the loss of further revenues.
Nowadays, it has become a matter of grave concern for businessmen as there remains widespread corruption in releasing imported goods or booking goods for export. It is allegedly impossible to move a file from one table to another table without paying ‘speed money’. Each and every step, the importers and exporters have to pay ‘speed money’ either to officials of Port or Customs. The Port Authority must pay attention to the allegations and solve the container jam problem in an urgent basis.
