Country's main two seaports Chittagong, Mongla and landport Benapole are struggling hard to cope with a huge number of undelivered cars those stockpiled due to complexities relating to customs, officials said.
The cars lying undelivered for a long time are disrupting normal port activities severely, they said.
"The disruptions caused mainly by customs related issues led to stockpiling of cars at the ports that are now battling with a severe congestion, they also added.
They said writ petitions on the issues of tax and rent have been filed by many car importers on several occasions.
Besides, lack of own showrooms or car sale centres of the importers, less demand in the market, economic meltdown and non-receipt of Clearance Permit (CP) from the authorities concerned for the import of prohibited cars by several importers have made a big stockpile of cars day by day, sources said.
A PMO source said, "It is a big problem. So we are preparing to clear the backlog of the ports."
"We are doing everything to normalise the ports' operations by removing the problem caused by huge stockpile of cars as soon as possible, he added.
As of June 24 last, a total of 6,226 undelivered cars and chassis were parked in Chittagong, Mongla and Benapole ports, according to Prime Minister's Office (PMO) statistics.
Some 1,036 cars have been lying undelivered in Chittagong port, the largest seaport in the country for a long time until June 24 last, the data showed.
Some 3,485 cars are lying undelivered in the Mongla sea port while, some 1705 chassis in the Benapole land port in Jessore district, the data said.
A high level meeting will be held today (Monday) to take necessary decision in connection with the undelivered cars that have stockpiled in the country's important ports. The cabinet secretary will preside over the meeting.
A high Customs official said car importers could not take delivery of their imported vehicles as they did not follow the existing import policy.
Besides, it is not possible to release a large number of imported cars due to varied reasons including customs complexities. As a result, some undelivered cars are sold every year through auction.
Presently, a small number of imported cars is sold through auction in Chittagong and Mongla sea ports, sources said.
Some 29 cars have been sold by public auction from both the sea ports in the last one year, according to the PMO data.
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