Ctg depot fire: Financial loss of Tk1,400cr estimated

Financial losses from the deadly blaze at the BM Container depo in Chattogram's Sitakunda last week has been estimated around Tk1,400 crore, according to approximations from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA), and the fire service authorities.

The fire, which took five days to douse, burnt down nearly Tk400 crore worth RMG products, Tk300 crore of other export-bound products, Tk500 crore worth imported goods and caused Tk300 losses to the depot owners. In addition, the value of destroyed containers was another Tk 40 Crore, said Ruhul Amin Sikder, general secretary of BICDA.

Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, vice-president of BGMEA, told The Business Standard, "As of Saturday noon, our 128 units reported a loss of $40.44 million, which is TK377 crore. When the assessment is done, you can expect the losses of RMG good to exceed Tk400."

He said among Chattogram exporters Four H Group, Pacific Jeans, Clifton, Asia Group suffered losses. Besides export bound goods from Pran and Ananta Group were also burnt in the fire.

Meanwhile, eight general diaries (GDs) have been filed with Sitakunda police station till Saturday noon, Sub-Inspector (SI) Ashraf Siddiqui told The Business Standard.

According to the GDs, $7.77 lakh worth RMG goods of Bitopi Group was damaged, Metro Knitting and Dyeing suffered a loss of $3.13 lakh, Apex Lingerie Ltd -- $1.90 lakh, Apex Textile and Printing Ltd -- $42,400 and Parapar  Shipping --  $56,230.  Clifton Group and Lingde reported damages but did not specify the estimated amount of losses.

According to BGMEA sources, JFK Fashion, AKH Knitting and Dyeing, Versatile Textiles, Vision Apparels, Impress-Newtex Composite Textiles, Ayesha Clothing, Vanguard Garments, Arrow Fabrics, Divine Intimates, Sea Blue & Sea Tex Textile and Rio Fashiowear reported losses. These manufacturers produced goods for some of the top comanies in the world including H&M, Dutch brand C&A, Target USA, PVH MBH, Base and Fame LLC.

Kamruzzaman Kamal, director marketing of PRAN-RFL, told The Business Standard, "With what we know so far, I am expecting a loss of some Tk25 crore.

According to information from BICDA, there were 4,318 containers at the BM Depot at the time of the fire. Of these, 2,897 were empty containers. The remaining 867 containers contained export goods while  557 containers contained imported goods.

Apart from these estimated losses, the depot fire damaged fire service vehicles, covered van, container carriers, and nearly 100 houses within two kilometre radius  of the blaze.

BGMEA vice-president Rakibul Alam Chowdhury said they now want quick shipments of other products stored in the BM depot, which weren't damaged in the fire.

"We have verbally requested the Chairman of  the Chattogram Port and and Customs authorities to arrange for prompt relocation of the goods from BM Depot to another yard so that there is no complication with the payment of exporters," added Rakibul.

Police seizes CCTV recorders from BM Container Depot

Sitakunda Model Police and a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has seized seven CCTV digital video recording (DVR) machines from the BM container depot yesterday morning.

A total of 118 CCTV cameras were installed in the entire depot area but most of those were destroyed in the fire. 

CID inspector Mohammad Sharif told The Business Standard, "The DVR machines are completely burnt out. However, they have been confiscated for inspection by the experts." 

He added that the seized equipment were handed over to the Sitakunda police.