Chittagong port users yesterday expressed strong resentment over a move of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to introduce electronic seals on containers and covered vans plying between the port and private inland container depots.

They demanded immediate cancellation of NBR's Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), claiming that it would increase business costs and make export and import procedures lengthy.

According to the SRO, importers and exporters need to pay Tk 600 in fees for 48 hours per container and Tk 50 as additional fee for every hour afterwards. One M/S Alif Corporation got the job for installing and providing the service.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith was scheduled to inaugurate the service tomorrow. Yesterday the programme was rescheduled to December 11, said Chittagong Customs House Commissioner AKM Nuruzzaman.

The Port Users Forum in an urgent meeting at World Trade Centre in the port city yesterday afternoon unanimously took a decision to disregard the SRO.

The forum chairman, Mahbubul Alam, also president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), chaired the meeting.

He said the NBR should have consulted stakeholders beforehand as the move was “unnecessary” given that containers were usually locked by main line operators with bullet seals, an international practice with which importers and exporters were satisfied. Besides there is no record of theft during the movement, he said.

At least 2,000 containers are delivered from the port every day, said Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Mahbub Chowdhury. 

The new system will delay deliveries and create vehicular congestion and it is being introduced only to give a company the scope to “extort money” from businesses, he added.