Imported goods containers moving to off-docks to curb Ctg port backlog 

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has permitted the Chattogram port to send imported containers to private off-docks for unloading to ease container backlog at the port.
 
Generally, 38 types of imported goods including food products are unloaded from the off-docks and the rest are delivered directly from the port yard. But about 86% of the port's capacity was occupied due to the huge piles of imported containers, creating a container backlog here.
 
For this reason, the NBR allows the delivery of imported goods from private off-docks.
 
According to the directives issued by the NBR on Monday, all types of goods containers arriving at Chattogram Port were allowed to be stored at 19 off-docks and unloaded from there subject to three conditions to resolve the containers backlog created here due to Covid-19.
 
The conditions are --- 100% of the containers must be scanned during the transfer to off-docks and the scanning report must be preserved properly. The representatives of Chattogram Custom House and the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department have to do physical examination of all commercial shipments transferred to off-dock.

The order will be automatically cancelled after 31 August, the NBR added.

Earlier last year, the NBR had decided to relocate the imported goods off-dock due to overcrowding of containers at the port at the beginning of Covid-19 outbreak.
 
Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority Rear Admiral M Shahjahan said, This is a timely decision of the NBR. 40,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) containers will be kept in the port yard and additional containers will be sent to ICDs.
 
However, traders say it costs more to take container delivery from off-dock than from the port.
 
President of Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mahbubul Alam said the initiative to move containers to off-dock from the port in a bid to reduce container congestion is commendable. However, it needs to make sure that traders do not face unethical costs during the delivery of containers from off-dock.
 
According to Chattogram port data, the number of containers in the port yard was 42,173 until 8 am on 24 July. Capacity to hold containers at the port is 49,018 TEUs. To keep the activities normal, 15% of the capacity has to keep vacant.

Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general of the off-dock owners' association, said, "We will be able to bring 15,000 imported containers from the port yard to keep the activities normal. However, at the moment, the off-docks also witness a backlog of export goods containers."

Khairul Alam Sujan, director of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said when transferring imported goods, people concerned should be careful so that the supply of export goods is not disrupted.