Shippers worried over political deadlock

CHITTAGONG, Feb 5: The Shippers' Council of Bangladesh (SCB) has expressed grave concern over the indefinite blockade coupled with frequent hartal calls disrupting public life and hampering production, supply chain of goods and exports.
The disruption has left a very negative effect on the national economy and put the business community in trouble.
In a statement SCB chairman Md Rezaul Karim said frequent hartal calls and the indefinite blockade throughout the country in the last 30 days took its toll on the trade and business that suffered losses is to the tune of about Tk 7500 billion.
The ongoing political programme hit exports and local trade of jute hard by 20-30 per cent in the last one month and the estimated loss in the sector was about Tk. 5.1 billion.
Jute exporters halted shipment as the cost of transportation from factories to Benapole, Chittagong and Mongla ports increased 100 per cent while orders for exports fell significantly, he said.
The shipment of raw jute suffered a serious setback in January last as export decreased by more than 80 per cent. If political turmoil continues further, jute exporters and jute factories will not be able to repay their bank loans in time and for this they will become defaulters.
What is alarming is that apparel buyers are avoiding Bangladesh.
Instead, they are asking garment factory owners to meet in a third country. Even they are not placing the full volume of orders as they think the garment makers would not be able to make the supply timely due to production disruptions. Recently the international buyers' forum demanded an immediate end to the political impasse and uninterrupted transportation of goods between Dhaka and Chittagong, he said.