Removing air cargo space constraint

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SOME urgent actions are necessary for making more air cargo space available for facilitating the exports of agri-products to the European Union (EU) and the Middle East (ME) countries. The report carried in the FE in its issue on Saturday about the country's export volume declining by about 50 per cent to the EU and the ME countries during the first two months of the current fiscal provides some good reasons for concern. Lack of cargo space in aircraft has been cited as the main reason for this decline in export of agro-products.
The national airliner -- Bangladesh Biman (BB) -- has been transporting about 90 per cent of the country's total export consignments for long. Now that the BB has downsized its operation, exporters are facing constraints. Meanwhile, the fare charged by foreign airlines is reported to be much higher than that of the BB. Then there is also stiff competition in the overseas markets with suppliers from countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Ghana and other developing countries making efforts to export their agro-items at competitive prices.
In this backdrop, local exporters should be facilitated in every possible way to send their consignments to the EU and the ME markets at competitive prices. Fare is an important element of cost that has a direct bearing on the competitiveness of our export products. Furthermore, timely despatch of export consignments is yet another major factor for ensuring the retention of market for perishable items like agricultural products. These two factors heighten the need for making every effort in earnest to remove the aircargo space constraint.
Ferdous Ahmed
Motijheel, Dhaka