Freight costs surge four times over long delay at private ICDs

Private inland container depots (ICDs) have now been choked with a huge number of export goods mostly sent by readymade garment factories ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha holidays, causing truckers to wait in tailbacks for up to 10 days for unloading.

That is why trucks, covered vans and prime movers are charging Tk50,000-Tk60,000 to carry export goods from Dhaka to ICDs in Chattogram. In normal times, a covered van completes an unloading of goods within 8-12 hours at an ICD, charging fares between Tk15,000 and Tk16,000, according to sources.

Export goods are stuffed onto containers at private ICDs before they are shipped through Chattogram port.

The ICDs are now struggling to handle export goods amid an immense inflow pressure, leading to around 5,000 trucks now remaining stranded there, Chowdhury Jafor Ahmed, secretary general at Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association, told The Business Standard. 

At least 10,000 covered vans carry goods to and from the ICDs every day, he noted.

The Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association (BICDA) put growing pressure on the ICDs down to sending export goods to the container depots ahead of shipment schedules owing to a long Eid-ul-Azha vacation and the closure of BM Container Depot.

As such, covered vans are having to wait for a long time as the stuffing of so many export goods onto containers is taking time, said BICDA Secretary General Ruhul Amin Sikder.

The 19 ICDs have the capacity to handle 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of export containers. They handle 6,000 TEUs in normal times, he said, adding that till 5 July, the number of containers at the depots stood at 11,500 TEUs. 

Besides, there are 8,100 TEUs of imported load containers and 34,000 TEUs of empty containers at the ICDs, he noted.

Mohammad Ullah, a covered van driver who took garment items to the SAPL Container Depot in Chattogram's Patenga area, told TBS, "I arrived at the depot gate on Sunday [July 3] morning with goods from Ashulia. But depot officials are not giving any information about when the goods will be unloaded."

There is no eatery in the vicinity of the depot, he said, adding, "If I cannot unload products before Eid, I won't be able to celebrate Eid with my family."

Mir Hossain, another covered van driver who brought goods from Shyamoli in Dhaka, said, "I reached the depot gate with the goods on Saturday afternoon. Depot officials told me there is a congestion of containers inside. So, unloading takes time."

The 19 ICDs now have the capacity of handling around 70,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of export and import containers as the fire-damaged BM Container Depot with a capacity of 6,500 TEUs remains shut.

In the meantime, garment exporters say they are feeling the pinch of exorbitant transport fares. 

On 3 July, BGMEA First Vice-President Syed Nazrul Islam sent a letter to the president of Chattogram Chamber of Commerce, saying covered vans carrying apparel goods are having to wait from four to eight days for unloading as the ICDs are taking too much time in handling containers.

Mentioning that exporters have an immediacy regarding shipping export goods ahead of the next Eid, he requested that necessary initiatives be taken to keep transport costs at a tolerable limit.

BGMEA vice-president Rakibul Alam Chowdhury noted that exporters are facing huge financial losses because of very high transport costs.

They are also resorting to costly air freight because of the delay in loading goods into ships, he added.