Import vessel refuses to berth for unpaid bills

A dispute between the owner and the operator of a ship had caused sufferings for over 100 importers at Chittagong port for nearly a month.

The owner of the vessel—MV West Scent—did not let the ship berth even after reaching the outer anchorage of the port 24 days ago because of a dispute over unpaid bills.

Indian charterer firm Panlloyd Logistics Private Ltd hired the ship at $6,500 a day from United Arab Emirates based FTN Shipping on condition of paying 15 days' charter hire in advance.

The dispute arose when the charterer failed to pay the rent for around 45 days amounting to near $3 lakh to the ship's owner, said Mohammad Rashed, assistant general manager of the charterer's local agent QC Logistics Ltd.

The captain of the vessel refused berthing after reaching the Chittagong port on July 31 informing that the owning firm instructed him not to proceed further until the outstanding is paid, said Rashed. The vessel was carrying imported goods of leading business conglomerates, including BSRM, Abul Khair Group, Bashundhara, PHP Group along with Unilever and several garment manufacturers.

Later the vessel's owner and charterer agreed to discharge the goods when the local agent urged the two to do so first and then settle the dispute.

The ship finally discharged the containers on August 23 and left the jetty the next day.

Vessels usually have to wait at the outer anchorage for berth due to container congestion, said Imtiaz Chowdhury, head of supply chain at BSRM Group that brought in 50 containers of raw materials for steel manufacturing.

“But this time the problem was not at the port's end. Rather the delay was caused due to internal payment problems of the vessel, which is unexpected. The importers are the ultimate losers.” “The delay in getting delivery of the raw materials hampered our steel manufacturing factory's daily production,” he said.