Business Desk :
Container and good transport delivery from Chattogram port have come to a halt since morning due to a 72-hour strike called by Bangladesh Covered-Van Truck Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association and Bangladesh Truck Drivers, Workers Federation to meet their 15-point demand.
Trucks, covered vans, prime movers stopped entering the port to deliver goods since 6 am and export containers also stopped coming from 19 private off-docks.
Traders will face financial losses if the strike is not called off, according to concerned officials.
Chattogram Prime Mover Workers’ Union President Md Mainuddin said the strike has been called to meet their 15-point demands.
“We have been protesting for a long time to realise our 15-point demands including ban on collecting of advance income tax on truck and covered van owners,” he told The Business Standard.
Additionally, Mainuddin claimed that licensing of truck and covered van drivers has been stopped for 10 years. “It should be resumed immediately,” he added.
Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the three-day strike would cause severe damage to the country’s economy.
“If the transportation of goods in the port is stopped, the image of the country in the international arena will be damaged,” he told The Business Standard.
These demands need to be resolved through negotiations not by stopping the transportation of goods, he said.
Private inland container depots (ICD) Owners’ Association (BICDA) President Nurul Kaiyum Khan said such a programme by taking the country’s economy hostage is undesirable. “If the containers of exported goods does not reach the port on time, ships’ schedule will be disrupted,” he told The Business Standard.
Chattogram Port Authority Secretary Md Omor Faruk said container transportation has been closed at the port but other activities are normal.
On average, about 4,000 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) containers are delivered from the port every day.
In addition, 200 TEUs of export goods are taken to the port for shipping from 19 private ICDs. 500 containers of imported goods, including empty containers, are brought to the ICDs every day.
