Prime movers’ strike: 1,500 export boxes stuck at KDS Logistics’ depot

Transportation of export-import goods to and from KDS Logistics' inland depot has come to a halt since 400 drivers and staffers of prime movers continued their strike for the fifth consecutive day on Monday to press home various demands including job regularisation and post-retirement benefits.

As a result, at least 1,500 twenty-foot equivalent units of export containers have now got stuck at the depot. Besides, imported raw materials, especially for apparel items, remained stuck at the Chattogram port too.

Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said, "If truckers' strike is not withdrawn in a day or two, the country's export trade will come to a standstill. The issue cannot be resolved without any administrative intervention."

Since 30 September, primer movers have refrained from goods transport, said Jahangir Alam, deputy manager at KDS Logistics, mentioning that their inland depot has a capacity to handle 7,000 TEUs.

Chattogram Prime Mover-Trailer Workers' Union President Md Main Uddin told The Business Standard, "I have been working at KDS Logistics for the last 15 years, but I have no identity card. Around 400 drivers and helpers are employed at the organisation. We do not get gratuity even after working for a long time.

"We told the authorities about it several times and moved to the labour court too. Police talked to KDS Logistics about the matter. But they are not listening to us."

He said, "If our problem is not solved in a day or two, we will stage a sit-in programme in front of KDS Logistics on Wednesday. Prime mover drivers across Chattogram will go on a strike on Thursday. If our demands are still not met, there will be a nationwide strike on 8 September."

Selim Rahman, managing director of KDS Group, told TBS, "The protesting workers do not belong to our organisation. They are basically employees of the contracting companies. They have often staged such protests in the last five years. If this continues, we will be forced to get our work done by outside organisations."

Abdullah Al Shakib Mubarrat, deputy inspector general at the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, told TBS, "We held a hearing a week ago after receiving complaints from workers. But we have not heard anything from the owner about the ongoing workers' discontentment."

In the last hearing it was decided that the employer and contractors would give identity cards to their respective workers, he said.

Meanwhile, Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general at the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA), said, "KDS Logistics informed us that goods transport remained suspended because of a strike enforced by transport workers."

In a letter sent to the home minister on Sunday, the BICDA president said export containers cannot be loaded into ships owing to the ongoing strike. That is why exporters are failing to send goods to foreign buyers on time, which has a negative impact on the country's export trade.

In the same way, imported goods laden containers cannot be released from the port, leading to container congestion.