No consensus yet on hike in freight forwarding charges

A meeting organised by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Wednesday to fix freight forwarding charges ended inconclusively as both the readymade garment (RMG)  manufacturers and the freight forwarders failed to reach a consensus on the issue.
The freight forwarders want to raise charges to the extent of 75 per cent to Tk 3,500 for each consignment.
However, the NBR will sit again on April 27 to settle the issue that had triggered a row between the readymade garment exporters and the freight forwarders since October last.
NBR member (policy, statistics and research) Farid Uddin presided over the meeting held at its headquarters in the city Wednesday.
In the meantime, freight forwarders organised a meeting at its Dhaka office on the same day and decided to wait until April 27.
"We've decided that we will wait until April 27 for implementing the new charges," said Mahbub Anam, president of the Bangladesh Freight Forwarding Association (BAFFA), a group of 800 forwarders.
Mr. Anam said his organisation had submitted its arguments in favour of new charges to the NBR.
He said the NBR wants more time to further scrutinise the issue in terms of international practices.
He said, "We've submitted all required documents to the NBR."
BAFFA sources said so far they met at least seven times in the last seven months over the issue under the supervision of the NBR.
He said importers are free whether they will take their services or not.
The garment factory owners said, the forwarders cannot raise a single penny as per the government laws.
"For this reason, we're protesting the fresh hike in the charges," Mr Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, BGMEA vice president told the FE.
The country's garment factories, however, take much of the services from the forwarders.
BGMEA sources said the forwarders can get the enhanced service charges from their respective principals abroad.
The forwarders earlier wanted to implement the charge hike from September 1 last. It deferred the decision by one month as the stakeholders opposed it.
Later, the freight forwarders wanted to implement the charges from October in 2013.
But due to political turmoil, the BAFFA and its members did not implement the same since October.
On the other hand, ABM Rafiquzzaman, BAFFA vice president said, "We waited for the last seven months, but we will take our own decision if the next meeting fails to reach a consensus on the issue."
The freight forwarders are now taking Tk 2,000 for a document (NOC) irrespective of cargo volumes.
Mr Rafiquzzaman said costs associated with the handling of cargoes have surged manifold over the years.
Freight forwarders are actually the carriers of products and they deliver the goods to their counterparts from the local manufacturers. They also deliver imported goods to the local counterparts.
He said the association had proposed to increase the charges considering inflation and other costs associated with business.
There are nearly 800 freight forwarders in operation in the country. They got their operating licences from the government in 2009.