Tens of thousands of containers pile up at Chittagong port

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Recently, according to Bangladeshi media reports, floods caused by continued monsoon rains and rising rivers in the country have killed at least 23 people and affected more than 5.5 million people. In addition, the floods also caused cargo to be loaded on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The flow of import and export trucks and other vehicles was severely disrupted.

The Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the country's main trade lifeline, was inundated and submerged under water in many places, and trucks and other vehicles carrying goods in and out could be moving slowly and therefore sit idle in traffic jams for hours. In some places, traffic jams of 30 to 40 kilometers were caused.

Container throughput at Chittagong port and inland container depots has dropped sharply over the past few days, while the number of trucks loading export cargo at these depots has also dropped significantly, port department officials said.

Ruhul Amin Sikder (Biplob), secretary-general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, said on Monday that the 19 depots received only 1,124 trucks carrying export goods, compared with about 3,500 trucks per day under normal circumstances..

In addition, only 393 TEUs of imported goods were shipped from the warehouse that day because importers were reluctant to accept the goods amid the floods. The existing export cargo loading volume is 8,290 TEUs, the import cargo loading volume is 8,643 TEUs, and the empty container volume is 49,924 TEUs.

"We don't have enough trucks to transport export goods," Biplob said, adding that they were currently delivering goods to the port from previous stocks.

On Sunday, only 1,647 import containers were shipped from Chittagong port, almost one-third of the usual number. On that day, about 38,000 TEU containers were stacked in the port yard, 16 ships were waiting at the outer anchorage, and 11 ships were loading and unloading boxes at the port terminal.

The express situation has further declined after the railway authorities suspended train movements on Thursday as railway lines were inundated with floods at many places. Therefore, the port authorities have allowed importers to transport train and road designated boxes from Chittagong to Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Dhaka via water route.

An official of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BFFA) said there is no obstacle in transporting goods between ports and warehouses.

"But due to highway congestion, export goods cannot reach warehouses and they are usually stuffed into boxes waiting to be shipped," he said.

Chaudhry Zafar Ahmed, general secretary of the Truck and Covered Wagon Owners Association, said about 3,500 trucks and covered wagons were still stuck on their way to Dhaka and Chittagong.

Al Nadeem, general secretary of the Chittagong Prime Engine Owners Association, also confirmed that more than 2,000 prime movers are still stuck at different places on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, carrying boxes.