Fire at Chattogram's BM Depot under control
The Fire Service has bought the fire under control that broke out at Chattogram's BM Container Depot on Tuesday afternoon.
Firoz Mia, station officer of Cumira Fire Service, told TBS that the fire originated at a storage of jute kept for export around 3:15pm.
The fire fighters managed to bring the fire under control within one hour, he added.
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However, the damage and reason behind the fire could not be ascertained yet.
BM Depot General Manager Nazmul Akhtar and Deputy General Manager Nurul Akhtar could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.
On 4 June, 51 people lost their lives to a fire caused by an accident due to hydrogen peroxide at the BM depot. More than 200 people were injured. In the incident, 154 containers carrying export goods and two containers carrying import goods were damaged.
The following day, the Chattogram Customs Authority stopped all activities of the depot. But due to less number of depots compared to demand, complications have risen in staffing and clearance of import and export goods.
Later, the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association wrote a letter to the customs authorities demanding resumption of BM Depot operations. Then on 22 August, the authorities allowed the storage of empty containers at the BM Container Depot subject to conditions.
According to data from the inland container depots association, there are 19 private ICDs in Chattogram with a combined capacity of about 78,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Out of this, BM Depot's container holding capacity is 6,500 TEUs. It handles 10,000 containers per month, including import and export and empty containers.
