Dwaipayan Barua

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) yesterday extended the deadline for full waiver on the storage rent for import load containers by 12 more days to May 16 after its two previous attempts failed to decongest the port.

The Chattogram port is finally drifting away from a standstill as the seemingly never-ending congestion both at the terminals and the outer anchorage is clearing up following a string of measures taken by the port authority and the government.

The Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) has once again announced full waiver on store rent for all import containers that have arrived after the general holiday began as it desperately attempts to decongest the country’s main port.

With the eye on Ramadan, Jannat Enterprise, a Dhaka-based importer, brought in about 250 tonnes of dates from Egypt in 20 refrigerated (reefer) containers that arrived at the Chattogram port 15 days ago.

In a last-ditch move, the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) has started writing to importers directly asking them to take delivery of imported cargoes that have piled up at the country’s premier port and causing congestion.

With Ramadan already underway, prices of essentials continue to soar in Chattogram kitchen markets -- at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are struggling with reduced income due to the restrictions brought about by the coronavirus outbreak.

The revenue authority has at last allowed all types of import containers to be shifted and stored at the 19 private inland container depots until June 30 in a bid to decongest the Chattogram port premises.

On April 5, OEL Bangladesh, a container vessel, arrived at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port bearing a multitude of import goods, including raw materials for the vital garment industry.

The 100 per cent waiver on store rent for import containers to solve the acute container congestion at Chattogram port ended yesterday with virtually no improvement in the space crisis.

The logistics and freight forwarding business in Bangladesh has been devastated by the global coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a nosedive in transportation of goods by land, air and sea.

That something is amiss becomes evident right at the gates of the Chattogram port: there are no long queues of goods-transporting vehicles. Instead, only one or two occasionally rumbles past.

Slow delivery of goods has created space shortage at the Chattogram port and a long queue of vessels at the outer anchorage in the last few days.

Chattogram port authorities have delayed scheduled berthing of three vessels due to acute space shortage at its yard designated to imported goods-laden containers.

Lentil prices shot up in Chattogram in the last two weeks thanks to a sudden rise in its demand as a relief item, countrywide restriction on movement and poor supply.

Chattogram port is fast running out of storage space as reefer containers used to transport perishable goods are piling up due to limited delivery in the past few days amid the countrywide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of lethal coronavirus.

Loading and unloading of bulk cargoes and containers to and from the vessels are going on as normal at the Chattogram port, which handles 93 per cent of the country’s consignments, with the view to keeping the supply chain smooth amidst the ongoing countrywide movement restrictions.

Wholesale prices of commodities witnessed a drastic fall at the Khatunganj wholesale hub in Chattogram in the last two days amid adequate supply and a drop in demand as the fear over coronavirus outbreak has kept customers at bay.

Ensuring Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities for patients remains a major challenge to tackle coronavirus in Chattogram, according to the authorities concerned.

Garment workers have continued to manufacture apparel items for Western buyers despite growing fears of coronavirus contagion in the factories given the close proximity of the workstations.

It’s yet to be done by everyone, but a few supershops in the port city are standing out by employing exemplary cautionary measures to protect against the possible spread of coronavirus, earning praise of customers.