BICDA members are still discussing raising four other charges, including those for handling export containers, haulage, lifting and verifying gross mass.
The services include transporting a container with imported goods from the Chattogram port yard to a depot and from the depot yard to a delivery yard by using forklifts and loading goods of containers onto the receiver's truck.
According to a BIDCA circular, the charge for the import handling service involving a 20-foot container has been raised from Tk 9,754 to Tk 13,080 while for a 40-foot container from Tk 11,255 to Tk 15,107.
Fuel prices were hiked by up to 51.7 per cent, the highest till now. Each litre of diesel now costs Tk 114 from Tk 80 earlier.
Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam said importers and exporters will have to bear the rise in cost, according to Bangla media reports.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) first vice president Syed Nazrul Islam said BICDA should have first discussed with stakeholders for the increase to be rational.
BICDA secretary general Mohammad Ruhul Amin Sikder, however, said though diesel was now over 42.5 per cent costlier, they had raised the import handling charge by only 34 per cent after a rational analysis.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)