AUTHORITIES running Bangladesh's top port of Chittagong are warning that they will introduce penalties against shippers that are slow to remove fully loaded containers from storage facilities that are almost at full capacity.
The port authority said shippers will have one week to move boxes that have overstayed their free time at Chittagong storage that is currently at 78 per cent capacity. As of February 4, some 38,000 TEU of full container load (FCL) boxes were waiting at the port yard, the storage capacity of which is 49,000 TEU, reported IHS Media.
'We will wait seven days,' the port's traffic director Enamul Karim told IHS Media. 'Unless the situation improves, [a] penalty will be slapped.' Mr Karim said cutting the number of containers at the port yard is essential for maintaining normal operational activities.
Another port official said the number of containers at the yard must be reduced to at least below 30,000 TEU to carry out operations smoothly.
Under Chittagong port regulations in place since 2001, the port authority can impose rent on import containers after four days of free time. For the first week after free time expires, port users can pay US$6 for each 20-foot import container and $12 for each for 40-foot container.
Costs can double when penalty rent is imposed, which last happened in December 2016. The penalty was lifted one month later after congestion in the storage yard eased.
WORLD SHIPPING
The port authority said shippers will have one week to move boxes that have overstayed their free time at Chittagong storage that is currently at 78 per cent capacity. As of February 4, some 38,000 TEU of full container load (FCL) boxes were waiting at the port yard, the storage capacity of which is 49,000 TEU, reported IHS Media.
'We will wait seven days,' the port's traffic director Enamul Karim told IHS Media. 'Unless the situation improves, [a] penalty will be slapped.' Mr Karim said cutting the number of containers at the port yard is essential for maintaining normal operational activities.
Another port official said the number of containers at the yard must be reduced to at least below 30,000 TEU to carry out operations smoothly.
Under Chittagong port regulations in place since 2001, the port authority can impose rent on import containers after four days of free time. For the first week after free time expires, port users can pay US$6 for each 20-foot import container and $12 for each for 40-foot container.
Costs can double when penalty rent is imposed, which last happened in December 2016. The penalty was lifted one month later after congestion in the storage yard eased.
WORLD SHIPPING