IF Bangladesh does not increase the numbers of its inland container depots (ICDs), it can expect serious cargo delays and missed shipments at the Port of Chittagong, reports IHS Media.
'If the capacity of ICDs does not increase, our export goods-laden trucks wait there [at the port even two to three days for unloading. We count demurrage in truck rent in these cases,' said Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) vice president Mohammad Hatem.
Mr Hatem said that due to the delays, containers sometimes fail to board on scheduled feeder vessels, and as a result need to catch the next ship, resulting in much later arrivals than scheduled which threaten sales worldwide.
'Alongside raising port capacity, the capacity of ICDs also needs to be increased,' said Mr Hatem, also the managing director of MB Knit Fashion Ltd.
He said several more ICDs need to set up near Chittagong Port since a good number of economic zones are being set up near Cox's Bazar and in the Chittagong area.
Currently, 18 ICDs are near Chittagong Port and one is close to Dhaka, where export goods are stuffed into containers before they are boarded onto feeder vessels for their journey to mother vessels in Singapore or Colombo.
ICDs handle about 91 per cent of Bangladesh's export containers, with the remaining nine per cent transported directly to the port yard from the factory.
Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) secretary Ruhul Amin Biplob said ICDs handled 533,000 TEU export containers, 315,000 TEU import containers, and 650,000 TEU empty containers in 2017.
The ICDs have total a 1,560,000-TEU annual handling capacity and handled 1,498,000 TEU in 2017.
'If the capacity of ICDs does not increase, our export goods-laden trucks wait there [at the port even two to three days for unloading. We count demurrage in truck rent in these cases,' said Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) vice president Mohammad Hatem.
Mr Hatem said that due to the delays, containers sometimes fail to board on scheduled feeder vessels, and as a result need to catch the next ship, resulting in much later arrivals than scheduled which threaten sales worldwide.
'Alongside raising port capacity, the capacity of ICDs also needs to be increased,' said Mr Hatem, also the managing director of MB Knit Fashion Ltd.
He said several more ICDs need to set up near Chittagong Port since a good number of economic zones are being set up near Cox's Bazar and in the Chittagong area.
Currently, 18 ICDs are near Chittagong Port and one is close to Dhaka, where export goods are stuffed into containers before they are boarded onto feeder vessels for their journey to mother vessels in Singapore or Colombo.
ICDs handle about 91 per cent of Bangladesh's export containers, with the remaining nine per cent transported directly to the port yard from the factory.
Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) secretary Ruhul Amin Biplob said ICDs handled 533,000 TEU export containers, 315,000 TEU import containers, and 650,000 TEU empty containers in 2017.
The ICDs have total a 1,560,000-TEU annual handling capacity and handled 1,498,000 TEU in 2017.