Inoperative scanner halts vegetable export to UK

The only quality checking scanner at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport became inoperative 12 days ago, resulting in a halt in vegetable exports to the United Kingdom.

It was the fourth time in just a span of seven months that the scanner developed problems.

Insiders said the government is losing at least Tk5 crore per day in revenue, while exporters incur hundreds of crore taka in losses. 

In the last 12 days, traders have already witnessed a cancellation of export orders of 100 tonnes of vegetables and now fear that they might lose competitiveness if the situation continues.

"With the scanning service, the government earns $0.6 per kg and it scans around 10-12 tonnes of vegetables every day. In calculation, it can buy another scanner with just a week's earnings," said Mansur Ahmed, general secretary of the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association.

"However, the authorities do not take such an effective measure. The negligence causes cancellation of export orders worth hundreds of crores of taka and forces our European buyers to switch to other sourcing countries. Besides, the government also incurs Tk5 crore loss every day," he added.

SM Jahangir Hossain, president of the association, said, "The country cannot perform well in vegetable exports with troublesome scanners. We have repeatedly requested the civil aviation authorities to address the issue, but it did not do so."

There are two scanners in the airport, one of which has remained dead for long, and the rest was seen becoming inoperative frequently. "We suffer for at least 15-20 days once the machine becomes inoperative," he added.

Currently, some shipments of vegetables are going to the UK after being scanned in Qatar, Jahangir said, which increases freight charges. Besides, Qatar Airways take the highest 2 tonnes of vegetables per day – one-fifth of the exports to the UK.

Jahangir Hossain feared that Bangladesh could lose export competitiveness if the logistics problems continued.

Talking to the Business Standard, several other exporters said many of their buyers have already switched to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries for sourcing vegetables, which was a threat to Bangladeshi exports to Europe.

Currently, the country exports fruits and vegetables worth $120 million, with the UK being one of its large markets.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, complying with UK regulations, including scanning all goods before departure and certification by the UK authorities, is mandatory for export to Britain by air. The scanning procedure and the machines must also be authorised by the UK government.

Insiders said engineers would be brought from the United States to repair the scanning machine, which can take up to a month.

When contacted, Executive Director at the airport AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan said the trouble with the machine halted exports to the UK, but there was no problem with other countries.

"We need some spare parts to repair the machine. Hopefully, those will come soon and we will get the scanner repaired," he added.

Nasir Ahmed Khan, director at the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said, "Vegetables are perishable items. If not handled properly during scanning in third countries, they can rot."

In September, a similar situation arose when both the scanners failed, leading to cargo being stockpiled at the airport, with loaded trucks queuing on nearby roads.