Cargo boxes gathering dust in Ctg port, Dhaka ICD

Prolonged rail-traffic suspension amid countrywide unrest results in huge export and import containers gathering dust in Bangladesh's prime port and Dhaka depots, sources say and fear its fallout on production, trade and market.
Officials say over 1,800 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers have been lying at the ICD yard of Chittagong seaport as transporting boxes by train to Dhaka and elsewhere remained at halt for nearly two weeks.
Both passenger and freight trains have halted since July 18 amid waves of troubles centring job-quota-reform movement and its later escalations over a significant number of casualties and property damage.
However, since limited resumption Thursday of the disrupted rail communications, only mail, local and commuter trains have been in operation from Dhaka to few nearest destinations--Narayanganj, Gazipur, Tangail and Brahmanbaria.
But intercity and goods trains have yet to whistle-start and, as such, the number of containers at Chittagong port's had more than doubled to 1,846 TEUs than its storing capacity of 876 TEUs until Friday morning.
Also on the day, ships carrying some 500 TEUs of ICD-bound containers had been in wait at the outer-anchorage of the seaport, according to officials concerned.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) in a letter on Friday to Bangladesh Railways requested arranging increased numbers of rail engines and empty wagons to carry the containers from Chittagong to Dhaka ICD in Kamalapur to cut congestions in the port's ICD yard.
"…unless the overweight containers are sent to Dhaka as they reach port, the importers suffer and commodity prices go up on the market and port's operations face disruptions," the CPA letter reads.
Last Tuesday, Bangladesh Container Shipping Association (BCSA) also wrote to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) for necessary measures for an urgent dispatch of laden export/import containers at Dhaka ICD and Chittagong Port ICD yard.
Chairman of BCSA Fayyaz Khundker in the letter stated that rail connectivity between the Dhaka ICD and Chittagong port remained suspended for security concerns amid the ongoing crisis stemming from student demonstrations pivoted by teacher-professional solidarity protests.
"As a result, a large number of laden containers of our exporters and importers, including your members, have become stranded on both sides of the Dhaka ICD-Chittagong port route," he wrote.
He further wrote that the accumulation of containers, along with accruing port-storage charges and stuck shipping lines' equipment, is causing significant delays in export cargos reaching destinations, risking buyers' deadlines to be missed.
Additionally, stranded import cargos can lead to spoilage, disrupt production schedules, and result in further downstream costs and complications, he added.
Mr Khundker sought "urgent" action to bring the matter to the attention of the railway authorities. He suggested arrangement of "special secured container trains", if necessary, to dispose of the piled-up containers.
Until Thursday, data show, a total of 2,209 TEUs of containers had been lying in Dhaka's Kamalapur ICD, of which 1,088 TEUs are import-laden, 468 TEUs export-loaded, and 653 TEUs were empty boxes.
Shipping executives say the importers can carry these boxes from the Chittagong port ICD yard to Dhaka and elsewhere by road instead of train if they want but, in this case, various complicated procedures have to be followed.
"Huge formalities have to be completed to take these boxes other than on designated vehicles," says Muntasir Rubayat, head of operations at GBX Logistics Ltd.
He suggests letter of credit, bill of lading, and import general manifest should be amended to clear the byway of freight operations.

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