A total of 3,224 (Twenty Equivalent Unit) of containers laden with export goods have been held up at 18 private Inland Container Depots (ICD) in Chittagong, creating uncertainty for exporters due to the 60-hour shutdown which ends today.
The containers have been unable to reach port for shipment for the past two days, said sources at the Chittagong Port and the private ICDs, who added that three vessels which were scheduled to leave the port today have been sat idle due to the strike.
As per procedure, export goods have to be brought to the ICDs from factories, from where they are sent to port after being packed into containers.
Sources at the shipping agencies said the vessels were likely to leave the port if the exporters failed to bring the containers on time, as the vessels would have to load the containers on large-vessels waiting in Malaysia.
Abdul Wahab, acting first vice president of Bangladesh Garments’ Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said they had tried to bring the containers to the port under police protection, only the police were not cooperating with them.
“Apart from the ICDs, a huge consignment of export goods are laying in the factories at Dhaka and Chittagong,” he said, adding that the garment sectors would face a critical consequence if political instability continued.
Ruhul Alim, secretary to the Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, said they had earlier carried containers at night during day-long strikes, however, this time they were unable to do so due to the unbroken 60-hour shutdown.
Meanwhile, only 212 TEUs of containers were released from the port in past 24 hours against the usual volume of nearly 2,000 TEUs, according to the sources at the Chittagong Port Authority.
