Ctg port, customs to operate amid Eid vacation
The Chattogram Port and Chattogram Customs House are continuing operations amid the Eid vacation, starting Wednesday, with an aim to keep the international supply chain functional.
Their stakeholders, including private depots and C&F agents, are also following the suit.
The Chattogram Port Authority, in its recent notice, said the port, Pangaon Inland Container Terminal and Kamalapur Inland Container Depot will remain open during the Eid holidays, which will end on Sunday next.
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It also suggested bank branches operating at the port make special arrangements to run during Eid vacations. Private depots were also urged to do the same.
Meanwhile, the Chattogram Customs House published a duty roster for the deputy commissioner, revenue officer, and other staff to continue taxation activities during the vacation. It also made arrangements to help continue export activities in the Chattogram EPZ.
"The Chattogram Custom House is operating during Eid holidays following the instruction of the National Board of Revenue. We will keep activities suspended on Eid day only," Chittagong Custom House Deputy Commissioner Bodruzzaman Munshi told The Business Standard.
Insiders, however, said the special arrangement to keep the port running will have no benefits if importers do not take delivery of their goods during the vacation. "There will be container congestion if traders delay goods release, and the situation can put the port in a difficulty to operate," said Syed Mohammad Arif, chairman of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association.
"I hope importers will take their goods as soon as the goods are unloaded from the ships," he said.
Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association President Nurul Qayyum Khan told TBS that all 19 depots in Chattogram are operating during the Eid holidays. "Garments and other export products which came from various factories in the country are now being loaded into containers for shipping. The Eid holiday will not affect the operations of the depots."
