Inland container depots face slump in business

Jasim Uddin Haroon Country's inland container depots have been experiencing a slump in their business over the past two months mainly due to poor supply of export cargoes, company officials said. They said export stuffing has fallen by more than 30 per cent in their terminals since September last. The import cargoes also fell significantly during the period, they added. On an average, the country's 19 private depots are handling 24,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) a month against 25,000 TEUs, according to statistics prepared by Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA). BICDA president Qayum Khan said the depots are now in worse situation . "Our business has fallen more than 30 per cent over the past two months," Mr Khan said. Mr Khan, who is also chairman of QNS Depot, said: "I used to handle nearly 2,000 TEUs export cargoes a month, now it has come down to 700 TEUs on an average." Officials at the largest Depot --- Essack Brothers Ltd. said they are handling export cargoes on an average 2900 TEUs a month against 5500 TEUs earlier. Senior officials at the depots said the economic crisis in Europe and double dip recession in the USA are the main reason behind the slump in their business. Ahsan Aziz Shelly, chief executive director of Essack Brothers said export has fallen significantly mainly due to debt crisis in 17-member Eurozone and double dip recession in the USA. "We've no alternative but to wait until the export takes its due course," he added. The country's 19 private container terminals or off-docks handle nearly 100 per cent export cargoes. Mustafizur Rahman, managing director of BM Container Depot said: "We're now stuffing export cargoes for new destinations like Japan, South Africa and Latin American countries. He, however, said depots will face financial crisis if the situation persists. Nineteen inland container depots located in a 20-kilometre peripheral area around Chittagong port handle the country's 100 per cent export cargoes and 17 import items or nearly 15 per cent of the country's total imports. They handle raw cotton, wheat, scrap, waste paper, chick peas, lentil and animal feeds as import items. The country's inland container depots or the off-docks, dealt with around 73 per cent of the country's external trade during the last fiscal year handling more than 900,000 TEUs. Off-docks began its journey in Bangladesh in 1997 through the launching of Iqbal Depot.