Foreign vessels at Ctg port grapple with lengthy process of waiver certification
Shipping companies and other stakeholders often have to leave the port without taking their cargoes or have to face delays and pay fines
Foreign-flagged vessels carrying cargoes to and from Bangladesh are facing severe service disruptions at Chattogram port owing to complications over obtaining mandatory waiver certification, which is taking a longer time.
As a result, shipping companies and other stakeholders often have to leave the port without taking their cargoes or have to face delays and pay fines.
As per feeder vessel operators, in the last one week, at least five vessels operating on Chattogram-Colombo route left the Chattogram port without loading cargo following delays. Vessels were also reportedly moved to the outer anchorage without loading or unloading goods.
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Singapore-based feeder operator X-Press Feeders said that their ships – XP Dhaulagiri, SOL Promise and XP Lhotse operating on the Chattogram-Colombo route – have run into waiver certificate complications this week.
In some cases, feeder vessels had to leave the port without loading cargoes even after booking containers.
"Due to waiver-related complications, the sailing schedule of 'XP Lhotse' has been delayed by one day. The ship, which was supposed to depart Chattogram port for Colombo on 14 October with around 1,500 TEUs containers, will now be leaving with around 1,040 TEUs containers," Captain AS Chowdhury, executive director of Sea Consortium Bangladesh Ltd, told The Business Standard.
X-Press Feeders in an advisory on Friday said that a partner vessel of the operator, SOL Promise, arrived at Chattogram port berth on 11 October and completed the unloading operation the next day.
"Local authorities allowed cargo operation for merely 24 hours and notified Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) to suspend export cargo loading beyond 8am on 12 October," it said.
"This is impractical for us to finish both loading and unloading operation given that vessel must complete 1,228 moves within the time limit of 24 hours at current productivity and efficiency of Chattogram port," said the operator adding that the ship had only managed to load 110 TEUs export and remaining of over 600 TEUs might face shutout situation.
Muntasir Rubayat, head of operations of GBX Logistics, local agent of the Singapore-based ship operator Straits Orient Lines' (SOL), told TBS, "Goods transportation by foreign-flagged vessels are facing obstruction at the Chattogram port due to misinterpretation of the Flag (Vessels) Protection Act. Each ship has to pay fines ranging from $12,000 to $15,000 per day for lying idle."
As per data from the container shipping lines, around 90 feeder vessels operate from Chattogram port to transshipment ports such as Colombo, Singapore, Port Kelang, Tanjum Pelepas port. Of them, there are eight domestic ships. Karnaphuli Group's HR Lines Ltd operates eight feeders from Chattogram to Singapore and Colombo.
However, local agents of the foreign-flagged vessels alleged that to give special advantage to a domestic company, upon arrival at the port, the foreign vessels are barred from loading and unloading containers, and moved to the outer anchorage, raising fears of missed connection with the mother vessels.
As per the Bangladesh Flag Vessels (Protection) Act 2019, 50% of the total cargo transported by ships is mandated to be carried on domestic flagged ships. If there is no more space in domestic ships, the foreign shipping agents have to obtain the mandatory waiver certificate for carrying the rest of cargo as per the provisions of the law.
According to the Bangladesh Flag Vessels (Protection) Rules 2023, foreign ship owners or their representatives have to apply online to the Mercantile Marine Office for the certificate before loading the goods.
Meanwhile, the World Shipping Council, in a letter sent to the Bangladesh state minister for shipping in May this year, asked for amending some clauses of the rule to solve the waiver certificate complications at the Chattogram port.
The rule has caused difficulties for goods transportation in international trade, affecting imports and exports negatively, said the organisation.
Captain Sabbir Mahmood, principal officer at the Mercantile Marine Office, told TBS, "After the cargo is confirmed for domestic-flagged ships as per the law, the remainder is given to foreign ships. This situation has arisen mainly due to the decrease in cargo volume."
Md Omar Faruq, secretary of the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA), said, "The issue of Waiver Certificate falls under the jurisdiction of the Mercantile Marine Office. We have not received any such complaint of foreign ships leaving the port without loading the goods."
On 16 February, The Business Standard ran a report on the waiver certificate complications, titled "Foreign feeder vessel operators allege harassment to get waiver certificate".
According to the Bangladesh Container Shipping Association, feeder vessels carry some 55% of imported goods and 85% of exported goods of the BGMEA.
If the schedule of export products from Chattogram port is missed, there is a possibility of missed connection with the mother vessel at the transshipment port. In that case, the on-time delivery of the product to its buyers in Europe and America becomes uncertain.
Garment exporters said, in such cases, complications arise regarding the payment of the exported goods.
