Garment manufacturers in Bangladesh are no longer keen to take delivery of import consignments from private inland container depots (ICDs), alleging exorbitant charges and shipment delays. Instead, they prefer deliveries directly from the Chattogram port.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) recently urged the Chattogram customs commissioner to fully restore direct port deliveries.Bangladesh garment firms are not keen to take delivery of import consignments from private inland container depots, alleging exorbitant charges and delays. They prefer deliveries directly from the Chattogram port. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has urged the customs commissioner there to fully restore direct port deliveries.#
BGMEA reasoned that ICDs lack adequate space, equipment and manpower.
However, the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA), in a letter to the commissioner, denied the allegations, saying ICDs did not charge as much as claimed by the BGMEA, according to media reports in the country.
An acute container congestion prevailed at the port amid the Eid holidays and countrywide lockdown resulting in poor deliveries. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) in July end directed to shift all import-laden containers from the port to the 19 private ICDs.
The aim was to unpack the goods from the containers and provide deliveries from there for a temporary period till August 31. Usually, containers carrying only 37 types of imported goods are taken to the ICDs from the port for delivery. The NBR decision helped rapidly ease container congestion at the port.
The apparel makers, however, have been opposing shifting imported raw materials for manufacturing garments to the ICDs from the beginning. They kept taking deliveries of their imports from the port directly.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)