Photo : Collected
After a month-long nationwide student movement, the transport sector has largely returned to normal, allowing the country's exports to gain momentum. Exporters hope that the country's exports will bounce back in September.
Like during the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's export-oriented readymade garment sector has gone through a difficult time in 2023 and 2024. These incidents are comparable only to the time after Rana Plaza collapsed when the sector faced big trouble at home and abroad.
In 2023-'24, the apparel sector has had its ups and downs in export earnings and work orders. It has also grappled with problems due to gas and fuel price hikes, interest rate increases, gas supply shortages, pressure from Western communities on labor rights, and massive RMG unrest, which killed at least four workers.
The country's ongoing political instability has also put pressure on the sector's entrepreneurs. The sector, however, increased minimum wages for RMG workers by 56.25 percent, which has been effective since December 1 last year.
“Especially in 19 private depots of the country, piles of containers filled with export goods have accumulated. Exports have been stuck in the last few days due to non-shipment of containers as usual. Currently, there are 15,151 TEUs of containers loaded with export goods in 19 off-docks, which is double the normal amount,” Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) Secretary General Ruhul Amin Sikder told The Daily Messenger.
He said that due to the instability in the country over the last two weeks, there has been a stagnation of imported goods due to slow release. The same is the case with exports, which is why off-docks are also under pressure. It will take some time to overcome this situation.
He said that if steps are taken now to release all types of imported goods through off-dock, this mess will be reduced quickly. All levels of port users will benefit if the release of all types of import goods at off-dock is arranged, especially for the next month.
Ruhul Amin Sikder said that regardless of the country's political situation, if there is a disruption in the import-export supply chain, then the country's economy will be affected. Factories have started opening considering that situation. As a result, many vehicles are entering the depots with export goods. Import and export of goods have increased comparatively, although not to the previous level.
According to BICDA data, the country's 19 off-dock export containers totaled 15,151 TEUs on Monday afternoon. Import containers were 8,713 TEUs and empty containers were 41,398 TEUs. 1,395 TEUs of containers have shipped through the port from off-docks in the previous 24 hours until Monday morning.
Additionally, 2,713 TEUs of container products from various export-oriented companies have arrived at the off-docks. At the same time, 846 TEUs of containers filled with imported goods arrived from the port. Moreover, 1,033 TEUs of imported goods have been released from the off-docks.
Chittagong port is known as one of the busiest ports in the world for handling containers. The seaport, which launched in 1977 by handling only six TEUs (20-foot-sized containers), now handles an average of 3 million containers a year.
Messenger/Fameema
