Apparel makers want all their imports delivered at Ctg port
Chattogram customs says apparel manufacturers are always free to take delivery of all their imports at the port as getting imports released at ICD off-docks is not mandatory
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) wants deliveries of all import-laden containers at Chattogram port instead of the private off-docks, saying the off-dock release costs them 65% more per container and the release time also doubles.
Apparel makers on 12 August sent a letter to the commissioner of Customs House, Chattogram, in this regard, which the authorities concerned termed a "cry for an already existing arrangement".
The BGMEA letter said the release of a 20-foot container from Chattogram port costs Tk4,277 while it costs Tk13,755 to release the same container from inland container depots (ICDs).
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As such, releasing and taking delivery of that container at an inland container depot costs Tk9,478 more than the cost of doing so at Chattogram Port itself. For a forty-foot-long container, apparel-makers say the ICD release costs them Tk12,104 more than releasing and taking delivery at the port.
However, Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (Bicda), termed the apparel-makers' claim "irrelevant and ignorant".
"The importers are not bound to take deliveries from the off-docks. An importer can release the import from the port or the ICDs. There has been a dual delivery system [from both port or ICDs] in place for 38 import items for the last two years," said Sikder.
"25% of the imports are now already being delivered from the port. The BGMEA misrepresented the ICD charges too," he noted.
According to the Bicda secretary general, ICD delivery charges are only around Tk3,000-Tk3,500 more than the port based on container size, and the off-dock deliveries add only 1 extra day to the delivery time.
He said the Bicda will send a letter to customs on 16 August, clarifying the matter.
In the face of a growing container backlog at Chattogram port, the revenue board on 25 July announced that importers can release their consignments from the ICDs or from the port until 31 August.
However, Syed Nazrul Islam, BGMEA first vice president, said, "We hear that releasing imports from the ICDs is going to be permanent even after 31 August, and so we are voicing our concerns for customs [to address]. "
"Now, there is no container congestion at the port. So, it is no longer logical to forward the containers to the ICDs from the port," he told The Business Standard.
According to Bicda sources, 19 ICDs received around 20,000 import containers since the 25 July revenue board notice. Of the containers, 13,000 were with import items that fall in the 38 categories already covered by the dual delivery arrangement. Only 7,000 containers arrived at the ICDs with imported items that are not on the dual delivery chart.
M Fakhrul Alam, commissioner at Chattogram customs house, said the revenue board notice did not make ICD release mandatory. Rather, it supplemented port delivery with off-dock ICD release.
"BGMEA can still take their imports directly from the port. Furthermore, the notice will expire on 31 August. So, I do not think it is necessary to take the apparel-makers' letter on to the revenue board," he added.
