Freight forwarding business takes hit from blockade

FE Report | Published: February 16, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Freight forwarding agents have said their business is badly affected due to the blockade as they are not getting enough cargoes for transportation between ports and cities.
Air freight is increasing with respect to carrying some perishable goods but sea freight has dropped in many cases.
An official of an international logistics company, requesting anonymity, said sea freight decreased by more than 30 per cent on an average and it might fall further as there were cancellations of some export orders.
A senior leader at BAFFA said disruption in carrying goods from Dhaka to Chittagong and vice versa was badly affecting their business.
He said it was now impossible to say exactly how much loss they had incurred but the loss must be big and some firms failed to get any cargoes to continue their business.
President of Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association (BICDA) Nurul Qayyum Khan said in February their business had fallen drastically as the entire supply chain was badly affected.
He said: "We are not getting enough cargoes coming from Dhaka."
Mr Khan said their business volume dropped by more than 30 per cent and currently they were incurring loss in the form establishment and overhead costs.
The BICDA president feared cargo volume might further decline if the ongoing situation persists for long.
A US-based logistics company's Bangladesh chief said export cargo volume was getting reduced.
He said some airliners were not getting enough cargoes though there was an increase in the air shipment of perishable products.
He said order cancellations had an adverse impact on logistics service. So cargoes might decline for both air and sea shipments in the coming months.
He said Vietnam was getting more export orders at this moment and it could be a headache for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs.
According to another BAFFA member, regular logistics business dropped by 50 per cent to 300 tonnes per day from 600 tonnes earlier.
He said the logistics chain was affected for the ongoing blockade and shipment schedules were also being missed in many cases.
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