Chattogram Bureau :
Garment and knitwear exporters have requested the government to take steps to settle the deepening container crisis and vessels.
They held a meeting with the inland depot owners, shipping agents and freight forwarders on Tuesday, and met virtually state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury on Wednesday.
Export cargoes pile up at Chattogram port, but there are no empty containers. In many cases, if the containers are available, there are vessel crisis,” Mohammad Hatem, the first vice-president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), told the media after the meeting.
Feeder vessels carry export cargoes from Chattogram to mother vessels anchored at Singapore, Colombo and Malaysian ports. From these ports, the shipping lines send the export cargos to Western markets.But the pandemic-led loading-unloading delays have prompted a severe empty container and vessel crisis across the globe.
Mohammad Hatem said, If the berthing capacity of the Chattogram port can be increased to 12 from current 10, the overall export capacity of the port will ramp up 20%.”
Hundreds of trucks with exporting goods queue up in front of Inland Container Depots ( ICDs) as the apparel exporters worry about whether they would be able to ship products in due time.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan presided over the meeting on Tuesday while BGMEA Vice President Md. Shahidullah Azim, Vice President (Finance) Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, Vice President Md. Nasir Uddin, Directors Md. Mohiuddin Rubel, Asif Ibrahim, Abdullah Hil Rakib, Haroon Ar Rashid and Rajiv Chowdhury took part in the meeting held at BGMEA office in Dhaka yesterday.. First Vice President of BGMEA Syed Nazrul Islam and Vice President Rakibul Alam Chowdhury also attended the meeting virtually from chattogram.
