Blockade causing bottlenecks in container movement

A vessel bound for Singapore yesterday delayed its departure from Chattogram port as a good number of its export containers failed to reach on time amid a nationwide blockade that began on Tuesday.

The Panama-flagged Sky Wind had berthed at the third jetty of the New Mooring Container Terminal on Monday with departure scheduled for 11:00am on Wednesday.

The ship was booked to carry 1,040 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export containers but only 700 TEUs could be loaded on the time.

Saiful Islam, general manager of the ship's local agent Sea Consortium Bangladesh Ltd, informed that they decided to delay their departure by a day in order to complete the loading process.

The ongoing blockade has also impacted the delivery of import cargoes sitting in port yards as just 2,788 TEUs were shipped in 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday while it was 4,105 TEUs on the day prior.

Islam said 90 percent of the remaining export containers could have reached the port overnight on Tuesday but there would be no time to onboard them ahead of the scheduled departure.

This problem arose as most private inland container depots (ICDS) refrained from transporting export containers until Tuesday afternoon in fear of running into obstacles amid the blockage.

And as the ICDs rushed to make deliveries that night, there was a bit of container congestion at the port jetties with berth operators frantically trying to load them onto ships as quick as possible.

According to port officials, three vessels were able to leave the port as scheduled yesterday.

Islam also said staying another night at the port would cost around $3,000 for berthing while the ship's feeder operator will have to bear an additional charter hire of $20,000.

Still, they preferred to bear the cost rather than lose the remaining cargo freight, he added.

Islam informed that most of the cargo being loaded onto Sky Wind is garment products destined for Europe and the US.

After departure, the ship will connect with mother vessels at Singapore and then Port Klang in Malaysia.

Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, former first vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, expressed dissatisfaction over the ship's unexpected delay.

"We hope the ship will be able to connect with its designated mother vessels at Singapore and Malaysia, otherwise the export cargoes may miss the delivery time. Hence, there is some uncertainty," he said.

He also said that such a disruption is not expected at a time when the country's export volume is facing a downtrend amid the ongoing global economic crisis.

"But the situation improved on the second day of the blockade as the movement of cargo vehicles increased compared to the first day," he added.

Khairul Alam Suzan, vice president of the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said any more delays in the supply chain would cause further uncertainty regarding the timely shipment of exports.

"When such things happen, it creates a bad image about the country's export trade among buyers," he added.

Md Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, said the 19 private ICDs could only send a combined 172 TEUs of export containers till 3:00pm on Tuesday.

"However, the pace gained momentum in the evening and they worked the whole night," he added.

Sikder informed that as of 8:00am yesterday, the ICDs managed to send a total of 1,581 TEUs of export containers to the port.

Officials at different ICDs informed that the transport of export, import and empty containers between ICDs and the port were ongoing since yesterday morning, but the pace was slow.