"We are considering withdrawal of surcharge if situation improves," said Jamal Uddin Quader Chowdhury, managing director of QC Shipping, one of the major feeder operators.

A delegation of Singapore-based feeder operators is now visiting Bangladesh and they have had fruitful meetings with the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), government and other stakeholders, according to sources.

The delegation mainly comprised of principal level officials of Mainline Operators (MLOs) and feeder operating companies.

"Our meeting with the CPA was very fruitful and we hope a positive declaration would come out within this month," a member of the delegation told The Daily Star yesterday.

The team also called on State Minister for Shipping Mohammad Quamrul Islam who assured them of taking measures for easing congestions at the port.

Jamal Uddin said the feeder operators are ready to withdraw the surcharge but it hinges on the Chittagong Port situation.

"We have placed some conditions before withdrawal of the surcharge and will review the situation after two weeks", he said, pointing it out that the situation was yet to improve enough as long queue of ships often exists.

However, the ships no longer have to wait at the outer anchorage for over six days, whereas such a waiting lingered from 8 to 9 days earlier. The feeder operators have been imposing $130 per TEUs additional surcharge on all Chittagong bound vessels since June 5 this year as they are claimed to have incurred huge business loss due to long congestions at the port.

Some feeder operators, however, did not impose such surcharge and got priority berthing facilities from the port authority. The delegation also demanded withdrawal of priority berthing facilities.

The CPA assured the feeder operators that the priority berthing facility would be withdrawn and the huge pile-up of imported cargos that caused congestions would be cleared.

The imported containers would be sent to the inland container depot (ICD) at Kamlapur in Dhaka for clearing container congestion at the port yard.

As many as 48 feeder vessels are now operating between Chittagong and Singapore and other connecting ports. These ships are being operated by five major shipping companies, including QC Shipping, HRC Shipping, Seacon Consortium and OEL.