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Strike of goods transporters taking toll on trade

Though the strike involving public transport was withdrawn on Sunday evening, the owners and workers of vehicles engaged in transporting goods continued to enforce their countrywide protest as of yesterday evening, taking a toll on export, import and trade.

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Around 1,300 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export-laden containers could not be taken from the private inland container depots (ICDs) to the Chattogram port on time prior to the departure of three container vessels.

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Two of the vessels, AS Sicilia and Xpress Lohtse, both bound for Colombo, had deferred their scheduled departure on Sunday and waited an additional day.

Now the freight forwarders will need to manage space to carry the containers to the transhipment ports, said Syed Nazrul Islam, first vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

But if the process gets delayed further, the cargoes may miss their mother vessels altogether, and this may prompt buyers to demand discounts or costly air shipment, he said.

AS Sicilia was supposed to take more than 1,300 TEUs on board but could get only 902 TEUs till Saturday. Waiting for the whole of Sunday, it got no more.

“Since there was no hope of withdrawal of the strike by yesterday morning, our management suggested the vessel leave,” said Shahed Sarwar, deputy managing director of the ship’s local agent, Crown Navigation.

Xpress Lohtse left behind 632 TEUs.

Port Kelang-bound Kalamoti Trader left taking only 100 TEUs, leaving behind 249 TEUs.

AHM Kamal, director of the ship’s local agent Famfa Solution, said the initial plan was for around 1,500 TEUs but it was revised down to 349 TEUs for the strike.

Two Singapore-bound vessels — SOL Hind and Kota Bistari – pushed back their scheduled departure as they were yet to receive 545 TEUs and 350 TEUs respectively.

An official of PIL Bangladesh, the local agent of Kota Bistari, said the vessel would leave today, taking whatever that manages to reach it.

Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association Secretary Md Ruhul Amin Sikder said 10,700 TEUs got stranded at 19 ICDs till yesterday evening.

The amount of export cargo received by the ICDs from around the country was also poor.

Esack Brothers Industries, an ICD located near the Chattogram port, received export-oriented goods from only 84 trucks and covered vans, while on a normal day, it remained usually over 300.

Meanwhile, trade at commodity centres, including Khatunganj, one of the country’s largest commodity hubs in Chattogram, increased to a small extent as some buyers managed to turn up.

Transportation that was available at Khatunganj was found to be charging higher than usual.

Onion and garlic trader Md Idris said no onion could arrive from the Indian borders in the last four days, but some imported from Myanmar arrived in 15 trucks from Teknaf.

Several trucks were seen being loaded with goods in the afternoon.

Truck driver Mohammad Hridoy, who was standing in front of a wholesaler, said he was hired by a wholesaler from Brahmanbaria to carry onion, garlic and ginger to the district.

Unable to make any money since Friday, he had taken to work out of desperation and an apparent absence of strike-enforcers on the roads.

Manik Mia, a vegetable trader of Dinajpur, said transportation was available for sending goods around the country. But truckers are charging Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000 higher, he added.

Echoing him, Md Babul Mia, president of a wholesalers’ association in Shibganj upazila in Bogura, said they were now paying Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,500 more to transport goods from the district to Dhaka.

For Bogura to Chattogram, it was up by Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000 due to the fuel price hike, he said.

He, however, assured that this would not have any impact on the prices of commodities.

On Sunday, several vegetable traders said they had to pay an additional Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 for every trip on different routes during the transport strike.