2 probe committees formed over arrival of two containers with same IDs at Ctg port

Chittagong Port Authority and Chittagong Customs House have formed separate committees to investigate the arrival of two containers with the same ID numbers on separate vessels at the Chattogram port.

The containers, with the same tracking ID – FCIU3287091 – were detected at the port's container terminal management system on 4 March while being unloaded from two separate ships.

Both containers are now under the custody of the port and the consignment of goods in both have been locked by the Customs through automation. 

As per Chattogram port, the two containers are owned by the Hong Kong-based company Florence and UAE-based Scenery. Switzerland's Mediterranean Shipping Company and India-based Sea Coast Shipping Services are the main line operators of the containers.

Omar Faruk, secretary of Chattogram Port Authority, told The Business Standard, "Containers usually have unique serial numbers. We are investigating why the serial numbers of the two containers are the same."

He said a two-member committee headed by the port's Assistant Terminal Manager Kamrul Islam Mazumder has been formed to investigate the matter. The committee will scrutinise the import general manifest and other relevant documents of the two containers and about their ports of loading.

Another committee formed by the Customs will scrutinise the information about the goods brought in the containers. "They will manually check the products in the containers. If any fault arises, action will be taken accordingly," said Faruk.

Syed Mohammad Arif, chairman of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents' Association, told TBS that each container has a unique ID for monitoring its location during shipping. If there are two containers with the same number, only one will be identified in the tracking system. There is definitely an error in this regard."

Chattogram Customs House Commissioner Mohammad Fyzur Rahman, and the officials of the shipping companies MSC and Sea Coast could not be reached for their comments despite several attempts. 

As per Chattogram port, earlier, on 22 July 2022, two containers of a company with the same ID number were detected at the port. Investigation revealed that the factory where the containers were manufactured was responsible for the defect.