-Country's imports and exports stagnated after Hasina has resigned
-Trains were closed from July 18-31 for movement
"Due to the flood situation, the evacuation of Chattogram port is at minimum level. Due to the slow release due to political unrest, there has been a tangle of imported goods.'
Ruhul Amin Sikder, Secretary General, BICDA
The anti-discrimination student movement and subsequent fall of the Sheikh Hasina government led to stagnation in the import and export of the country.
As soon as being unable overcome it, due to continuous rains and flood situation for several days, the clearing operation of Chattogram port went to the lowest level.
Besides, due to stoppage of train movement, container jam is appearing in the goods yard of the port. Meanwhile, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has allowed the collection of containers from Chattogram, but due to adverse conditions, there is not much response from traders, said the concerned.
Exports are stuck due to non-shipment of containers. Currently, there are thousands of containers filled with export goods, which is more than usual, according to the Bangladesh Inland Container Deports Association (BICDA).
Meanwhile, recently severe floods have occurred in various districts including Feni, Cumilla, Noakhali, Lakshmipar, Brahmanbaria of Chattogram division. Lower areas of these districts have been inundated by water coming down from upstream. Especially the condition of Feni became the worst. A large section of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway with this district has virtually stopped direct traffic.
Besides, no vehicles could move goods from the Chattogram port as water was flowing on the highway in Lalpol area of Feni as no vehicles could ply on both sides. Again, export-oriented products from different parts of the country could not even enter the Chattogram port. Heavy traffic also occurred on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway as many trucks carrying goods, covered vans were stuck at both ends of Feni.
The railway authorities said that train services were closed from July 18-31 due to the anti-discrimination student movement. Later, for the sake of the economy and the country, with the help of police, BGB and other law and order forces, the railways started operating only container trains from August 1.
It was reported that the ICD yard capacity of Chattogram port is 876 TEUS. But as of August 2, the number of containers there was 1,846 TEUS. Of these, the number of 20-foot overweight containers was the highest. At that time, another 500 TEUS ICD container ships were waiting for berthing outside the port. But within 20 days of its launch, the number of containers in the ICD yard was reduced to 2,000 due to the stoppage of the container train.
Md Omar Faruk, Secretary of Chattogram Port, said that during the rainy season, the unloading operation at the outer anchorage of the port is normally closed. Moreover, besides the train being stopped, there is less opportunity to carry goods by road due to flood. Due to this, the clearance process of the port is somewhat stagnant. However, to deal with the crisis due to flood situation, NBR has allowed the release of containers from Chittagong to Kamalapur ICD. He expects that the clearing operations of the Chattogram port will increase if the traffic on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway becomes somewhat normal.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) Secretary General Ruhul Amin Shikdar said, due to the flood situation, the Chattogram port's clearance operations are at their lowest level. Due to instability in the country, the clearance has been slow, resulting in a glut of imported goods. Again the same is the case with exports. Due to this, there is pressure on the offdocks. It will take some time to overcome this situation.
He said, now if steps are taken to release all types of imported products through off-dock, this mess will be reduced quickly. All levels of port users will benefit if the release of all types of import goods at Offdock is arranged especially for the next one month.
BICDA Secretary General said, whatever the political situation of the country, if there is a disruption in the import-export supply chain, the country's economy will be affected.
Meanwhile, Chattogram Port Authority said that 95 percent of the country's import-export goods (containers) are transported by road. The remaining 4 percent is transported by rail and only 1 percent by other means. Due to the flood, the railway authorities stopped the trains from Chittagong to the whole country. As a result, many people are not able to take the cargo containers from the yard of Chittagong port.
From the latest information, it was known that although the normal redemption activities are less, only the perishable and daily goods have been redeemed by the traders. According to railway sources, due to adverse conditions, train movement across the country along with Chattogram has been stopped. Earlier, as train services were stopped from July 18 to August 1, the CGPY yard was piled up with containers.
He also said that in the past few weeks, the number of containers accumulated at the port has been reduced by running two pairs of trains daily. However, due to the closure of trains in flood conditions, the congestion of containers will increase again on both sides.
Traders said the import-export trade had suffered due to the anti-discrimination student movement and the subsequent fall of the government. Even though the activities have started again, the traders are again in crisis due to the flood situation. The Chattogram-Dhaka route has been shut down along with the road as well as the railways, reducing the cargo transport quota to zero. In such a situation, if the goods cannot reach the ship for collection and export quickly, the traders will face a big financial loss.
Railway officials said that normally during floods the railways remain open even though the roads are closed. But this time the flood situation in Feni and Cumilla has become worse than any time in the past. Due to this, train movement was also stopped along with the road. In some areas including Feni, railway lines were swept away by water.
In this situation, train movement was started to prevent accidents. The number of containers in the port yard has exceeded two thousand. It is said that there are plans to resume at least freight trains subject to speedy repairs once the flood waters recede.
ZH
