Some containers lying undelivered for 5 yrs
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Jasim Uddin Haroon
A large number of loaded containers awaiting delivery since long have been creating fresh congestions at Chittagong port.
As of Friday, about 2,500 such containers have been lying undelivered at the port yards - some of those for the last 4-5 years, port officials said.
The containers are loaded with the imported dates, baby food, perishable items, animal feeds, capital machineries, aluminum ingots and different types of construction materials.
Shippers and port officials said the undelivered containers were occupying about 12 per cent of the total yard space and 35 per cent of all the sheds of the port.
Officials said that the port authority was incurring losses of at least Tk 90 million each month on account of the undelivered containers.
Apart from this, such containers are impeding the country's export as the loaded containers were scheduled to load export cargoes after discharging the import cargoes.
Member operation and Harbour of the Chittagong Port Yahia Syed told the FE that this is the main reason for fresh container congestion at the port.
He also said they cannot accommodate new import cargoes at the sheds because those were occupied and neither can they keep the containers under open sky for long.
"We have issued letters to the national board of revenue (NBR) many times, but it is also not taking any concrete steps to speed up their auction process," he added.
He said 5.0 per cent cargoes remained undelivered due to filing of writ petitions in the High Court (HC).
Port officials said that at least 20 such containers are added to the total each day. Containers that are not delivered within the 30-day limit are supposed to be auctioned as per existing customs act.
The act also states that perishable and hazardous goods might be sold at any time with the permission of appropriate official of the CCH.
Sources at the customs said that their auction activities remained suspended over the past few months as the tenure of the auctioning company expired.
The CCH appoints a private company to organise auction procedures.
Furthermore, sources at the customs said that they have to obtain prior permission from the ministry of commerce to auction certain import cargoes which also contributed to the congestion.
On the other hand, officials of container lines told the FE that they are incurring financial losses due to such large number of un-cleared import cargoes for long.
He also said they are paying demurrages to the port authority and agents for the undelivered import cargoes.
However, port and shipping officials said that simplified auction procedures are necessary for resolving the crisis at the port.
Furthermore, a concerted effort by the NBR, port, Bangladesh Bank and concerned ministries are required to resolve the long queue of un-cleared import loaded containers, said port and customs officials.
A large number of loaded containers awaiting delivery since long have been creating fresh congestions at Chittagong port.
As of Friday, about 2,500 such containers have been lying undelivered at the port yards - some of those for the last 4-5 years, port officials said.
The containers are loaded with the imported dates, baby food, perishable items, animal feeds, capital machineries, aluminum ingots and different types of construction materials.
Shippers and port officials said the undelivered containers were occupying about 12 per cent of the total yard space and 35 per cent of all the sheds of the port.
Officials said that the port authority was incurring losses of at least Tk 90 million each month on account of the undelivered containers.
Apart from this, such containers are impeding the country's export as the loaded containers were scheduled to load export cargoes after discharging the import cargoes.
Member operation and Harbour of the Chittagong Port Yahia Syed told the FE that this is the main reason for fresh container congestion at the port.
He also said they cannot accommodate new import cargoes at the sheds because those were occupied and neither can they keep the containers under open sky for long.
"We have issued letters to the national board of revenue (NBR) many times, but it is also not taking any concrete steps to speed up their auction process," he added.
He said 5.0 per cent cargoes remained undelivered due to filing of writ petitions in the High Court (HC).
Port officials said that at least 20 such containers are added to the total each day. Containers that are not delivered within the 30-day limit are supposed to be auctioned as per existing customs act.
The act also states that perishable and hazardous goods might be sold at any time with the permission of appropriate official of the CCH.
Sources at the customs said that their auction activities remained suspended over the past few months as the tenure of the auctioning company expired.
The CCH appoints a private company to organise auction procedures.
Furthermore, sources at the customs said that they have to obtain prior permission from the ministry of commerce to auction certain import cargoes which also contributed to the congestion.
On the other hand, officials of container lines told the FE that they are incurring financial losses due to such large number of un-cleared import cargoes for long.
He also said they are paying demurrages to the port authority and agents for the undelivered import cargoes.
However, port and shipping officials said that simplified auction procedures are necessary for resolving the crisis at the port.
Furthermore, a concerted effort by the NBR, port, Bangladesh Bank and concerned ministries are required to resolve the long queue of un-cleared import loaded containers, said port and customs officials.