Chattogram Customs auctions Tk100 crore dredging pipes after six years
Customs is receiving online bids until 15 December, while inspections remain open through 8 December
Chattogram Customs has placed 2,783 tonnes of dredging pipes and other equipment – worth nearly Tk100 crore – in a special auction in two lots after the items remained stuck for six years. The authority did not set any reserve price.
Online bidding began on 20 November and will continue until 4pm on 15 December. Interested bidders may inspect the goods until 8 December.
The equipment, imported on 9 December 2019 by Dhaka-based Changing Dredging Private Limited, includes 1,900 pipes measuring 20 and 40 feet and eight containers of pipe fittings and machinery. Customs withheld release after determining that the consignment contained used pipes instead of new ones.
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Officials said the pipes, weighing 2,700 metric tonnes, were declared at an import value of Tk80.5 crore. The fittings and machinery in the containers, weighing 83 metric tonnes, were valued at Tk3.7 crore. The consignment was manufactured in China and shipped through Singapore. The importer did not take delivery.
The Chattogram Port Authority handed the items over to Customs in 2020, but the auction was delayed as the Ministry of Commerce did not issue the required no-objection certificate (NOC). The ministry issued the NOC on 10 November.
The certificate, signed by Md Saiful Islam, deputy secretary of the ministry, authorised the disposal of the two lots through auction to ensure government revenue. It requires compliance with import rules, payment of applicable duties, and confirmation that the goods remain usable. The approval applies only to this consignment.
Mohammad Yakub Chowdhury, general secretary of the Chattogram Customs Auctioneers Welfare Association, told TBS that the goods had remained outside the auction shed for a long time. He said transporting the pipes would be challenging, as each weighs three to three and a half tonnes.
"A trolley cannot carry more than three pipes, which will raise transport costs for bidders from outside Chattogram. The items may draw bids as scrap unless dredging operators participate," he said.
HM Kabir, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Customs, said, "We have placed two lots of dredging pipes and equipment in this special auction. We are receiving online bids from interested participants. This will also support efforts to ease container congestion at Chattogram Port."
