Business Desk :
As fuel prices have shot up, truck and covered van owners are demanding higher rates, causing serious difficulties for traders at the Benapole land port.
In addition to rising costs, there is also a shortage of vehicles.
As a result, traders, transport agents and C&F agents are struggling to send imports from India to their destinations across the country.
They say that before the fuel price hike, it took Tk 18,000-23,000 to rent a truck from Benapole to Dhaka. But now, transporters are demanding Tk 28,000-32,000 for the trip.
The increased fares and the vehicle shortage have meant that many traders who have paid their customs dues have been unable to move their goods from the land port.
“When the price of oil goes up, truck fares will rise too,” says Azim Uddin Gazi, general secretary of the Benapole Transport Agency Owners Association, reports bdnews24.com.
“The cost of transporting goods from Benapole to the rest of the country has gone up. The price hike took effect on Saturday.”
He confirmed the truck rental prices from Benapole to Dhaka and said the covered van fare for the trip was now Tk 25,000-35,000.
The government increased the prices of diesel and kerosene by 42.5 percent to Tk 114 per litre on Aug 6. In Bangladesh, most freight vehicles run on diesel.
Petrol prices were fixed at Tk 130 a litre, a 51.16 percent jump, while octane prices rose 51.68 percent to Tk 135. Diesel and kerosene prices were increased previously by 23 percent to Tk 80 per litre in November last year.
Faizur Rahman, the owner of ‘Rose Trading’ in Dhaka’s Keraniganj, says his imports are stuck at Benapole because of the hike in the truck fare.
A shipment of printing ink from India was at Benapole port, he said. The customs and port formalities were complete, but he has been unable to bring the shipment to his factory because truckers are demanding more than the Tk 8,000-10,000 he is willing to pay.
Nazrul Islam, the owner of importer ‘Maisha Trading’ in Dhaka’s Mogbazar, said: “If we have to pay such steep prices for trucks, not only will we make no profit from bringing chemicals to factories, we will actually lose money.”
