A government step to introduce a national air cargo service has been hanging in the balance for more than a year due to bureaucratic tangle, officials said.
The cargo service was supposed to be launched early in the current fiscal year (FY), but the fiscal is about to go, they said.
The ministry of commerce (MoC) took the initiative to launch an air cargo service last year with a view to facilitating export and import trade of the country, they added.
Earlier, different trade bodies and organisations had given proposals to the MoC, stressing the need for a national air cargo in the country.
Then, the MoC had taken opinions from trade bodies and organisations in this connection.
"Presently, the move remains shelved, there is no work on the issue" an official of the MoC told the FE.
A national air cargo service is urgently needed in the country. So, the government should introduce the service as early as possible for the sake of the country's export trade, President of the Exporters' Association of Bangladesh Abdus Salam Murshedy told the FE Sunday.
Besides, the service is always required for country's trade and commerce. But it is more and more required during political turmoil, he said.
If the government introduces the cargo service in the country, it would be better for the country's businessmen as well as the economy, he added.
It is needed to introduce an air cargo service in the country like the developed countries to help increase the country's export trade and for transportation of the export and import goods, industry insiders said.
Currently, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited offers international passenger and cargo services to different destinations. As of April 2015, it had air service agreements with 42 countries, but it flies to just 16 destinations.
The local private companies also provide cargo services worldwide with the help of others. But there is no separate national air cargo service in the country, an exporter said.
The urgency of air cargo was felt during last year's political turmoil. The demand for the service is increasing in the country gradually instead of sea and land transportations, he said.
With the fast growing demand for Bangladeshi goods in different countries, demand for an air cargo service of the country's own also increased, he observed.
"The exporters of the country have to pay a significant volume of foreign exchange to foreign airlines every year, an amount which can contribute to the domestic economy if we could have a national air cargo service," a vegetable exporter told the FE.
The freight rate of air cargo doubles or triples during any political turbulence, he said.
Presently, more or less 700 to 800 tonnes of export items are carried through the air cargo service per day, according to the sources.
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