Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has exempted apparel entrepreneurs from paying storage fees on imported containers to decongest the country's maritime port.
CPA issued the order on Monday attaching the condition that the entrepreneurs take their cargoes by May 4.
This is the second time this month the apparel entrepreneurs - members of BGMEA and BKMEA - were offered such an exemption.
On April 5, the CPA waived the full store rent for containers that reached the port after March 27 and were taken within April 20.
Due to the slow delivery of imported containers, Chittagong port has been facing acute container congestion since the countrywide shutdown began last month.
According to the existing rules, there is no storage rent for 20-foot loaded containers for four days.
Upon expiry of the four-day grace period, importers have to pay $6 for every 20-foot container and $12 for every 40-foot container for each day until the 20th day.
Then, it becomes $24 per day for a 20-foot container and the double for a 40-foot container as storage rent.
CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk told Dhaka Tribune, “The waiver will encourage the importers to receive delivery of their goods and help decongest the port.”
The total storage capacity of Chittagong port is 49,018 TEUs.
Of the capacity, the number of containers brought in by the apparel entrepreneurs stands at 20,000 TEUs.
As of yesterday, the number of fully loaded containers at the port yard rose to 47,000 TEUs.
Usually, 4,000 import containers are delivered from the port every day. Some 2,500 containers were delivered yesterday, according to CPA.
BGMEA director Anjan Shekhar Das told Dhaka Tribune that they could not take advantage of the previous waiver due to multiple reasons.
