Containers on way to Russia through alternative routes

Export goods-laden 166 containers, which got stuck in different inland container depots at the Chattogram port after the Russian-Ukraine war began, are now being shipped to Russia through different alternative routes.

The goods will be unloaded from ships at different seaports of Poland and Turkey and will reach Russia by road, afterwards. In normal times, Russian buyers used to get their goods via different European ports.

"We shipped 72 out of the stuck 166 twenty-foot equivalent containers in the first week of this month through an alternative route and the ships carrying the containers are now on way to Poland," said Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association.

He told The Business Standard that the rest of the containers would be sent in phases through other routes on demand.  

All the containers were supposed to be shipped from the Chattogram Port early this month, but it did not happen as large container lines suspended shipping to Russia due to the war in Ukraine. 

On 1 March, the world's three biggest container lines – Swiss-headquartered Mediterranean Shipping, Denmark-based Maersk, France's CMA CGM – temporarily suspended cargo shipments to and from Russia in response to Western sanctions on Moscow for the invasion.

Following that, Japan-based One Line, German-based Hapag-Lloyd, and a few others also suspended shipping to Russia. Although other shipping lines have not declared it openly, they are showing reluctance in carrying Russia-bound goods.

As a result, dozens of Bangladeshi exporters, mostly apparel manufacturers, started to feel the pinch and they feared that they might lose Russia and other European markets.

According to the   Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh sends nearly 2% of its export items to Russia, mostly apparel goods, and 55% to other European countries. In the fiscal year 2021, the country's total apparel exports stood at $31.45 billion, while goods worth $687 million went to Russia.

Shipping lines said although they arranged the shipment of 166 containers, which reached depots before the announcement of the suspension, they were not taking new bookings for Russia-bound containers. 

"We have not been taking bookings of Ukraine-bound containers since 24 February and Russia-bound containers since 1 March," said Azmir Hossain, Mediterranean Shipping head of operations for Bangladesh.

"The situation is yet to be changed," he told TBS.

Meanwhile, RMG makers said they might face financial losses as they were producing goods against the work orders of Russian buyers.

"At least 70% of Russian buyers-dependent factories may fail to survive if the ongoing war prolongs," Syed Nazrul Islam, first vice-president of the BGMEA, said.

Besides, they would have to struggle to repay bank loans and pay duties on raw materials brought under the bond facility.