Dhaka airport gets 2 scanners

Two new state-of-the-art dual view X-ray machines have been installed at the export cargo village of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to exclusively screen perishable items, finally materialising a long time demand of exporters.

Such items used to be screened with regular cargo with six machines.

Exporters have long been demanding separate machines, alleging that they were missing flights due to examination delays.

They claimed that when several flights were due to depart in quick successions, it was inevitable for at least a couple of tonnes to be left behind for the delays.

Perishable goods such as vegetables, fish, crabs, flowers and fruits are exported to countries, including the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Qatar and ones in Europe.

Some 2,106.4 tonnes were sent off from the airport in October last year whereas 1,729 tonnes in November, said the airport's executive director, Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan.

He inaugurated the installation of the two US-manufactured machines on Monday night.

The country earned Tk 1,200 crore in 2019 exporting perishable items, according to sources at the airport.

"With this activity, it will be possible to export over one and a half times more…perishable goods," he said in a message.

He also said the two machines would give priority to the growing demand for Bangladesh's products abroad and would also increase the interest of local farmers in export-oriented farming.

Asked, Mohammed Mansur, general secretary of the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables & Allied Products Exporters' Association, said more dedicated X-ray machines were required for screening perishable items.

He also said this development was not the solution to all their problems, one of which was a severe scarcity of space in the export cargo village.

"When two to three flights are scheduled to depart within a short period of time, many exporters miss sending their cargo items as there is not enough space at the cargo village for keeping the cargo items for screening," Monsur told The Daily Star yesterday.

He also said the exporters were not only losing business but also international buyers for the missed flights.