BGMEA prefers Ctg port to ICDs for release of import consignments
Where goods can be released from the port in two days, it takes seven to eight days from the private ICDs, claimed BGMEA
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) wants the release of their consignments of imported goods from the Chattogram port instead of private inland container depots (ICD).
The apparel organisation requested the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman in a letter issued by BGMEA's First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam on Tuesday after CPA decided to deliver goods from ICDs instead of the port during the lockdown starting from 1 July like last year.
BGMEA's letter alleged that private ICDs delay unloading goods due to lack of space, equipment and labour.
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It takes two days to release goods from Chattogram port yard but around seven to eight days from ICDs, said the letter. ICDs also charge more than the port and paying the extra fee during such trying times is not possible, it added.
BGAEA First Vice President Syed Nazrul Islam said export orders worth more than $3.75 billion have been cancelled and suspended so far due to the second wave of Covid-19. In such a situation, taking product delivery from ICDs will increase both cost and time which will further damage the garment industry.
However, Nurul Qayyum Khan, president of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (Bicda), a private ICD owners' association, said that BGMEA's claim is completely unreasonable.
"In the 19 private ICDs, there is a capacity to hold nearly 65,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and currently, there is space to hold at least 20,000 containers. So, the allegation that we lack space is unreasonable," said Khan.
At the beginning of the pandemic in the country last year, the National Board of Revenue issued an advisory and directed transfer of consignments of all products including the fixed 38 ones to the country's 19 private ICDs to reduce the container clutter inside the port.
To avoid the same situation this year, on 29 June, the port authority held a meeting with the stakeholders where they decided to send consignments to the ICDs. Later, a letter was sent to the National Board of Revenue regarding this.
The decision was highly opposed by BGMEA and C&F agents.
