Losses pile up for traders, exporters

Losses piled up for local traders and exporters yesterday as goods could not move owing to the countrywide transport strike.

On the day, very few export-bound and import-oriented goods-laden cargo containers were seen on the roads and highways as the strike, called to protest a 23 per cent hike in the price of fuels, entered into the third day.

The transportation of goods for the domestic markets was also disrupted because of the strike.

Kabir Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, said over the last three days, goods movement both at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the Chattogram port was almost zero.

"A backlog of export and import goods has already been created at the airport and the seaport."

Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the shipment of garment items worth $125 million were affected due to the transport strike.

The release of imported raw materials at the Chattogram port has remained stopped for the last three days, he added.

"We are fearing a big loss as we may have to make expensive air shipments to supply the goods to the buyers on time."

For every air shipment, exporters have to spend about 70 per cent of the export value of a consignment, according to Mohammad Hatem, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"So, we don't make any profit if an air shipment takes place."

The garment sector alone was losing shipments worth $157 million daily if the value of the items shipped last month was taken into account, said Hatem.

"We will face air shipment, discount or demurrage if a back-log in the port is created."

Habibur Rahman, a vegetable wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, said truckers were charging an extra Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 for every trip taking advantage of the strike.

Before the strike, which began on Friday, the transport cost for a truck full of vegetables from Dinajpur and Thakurgaon to Dhaka was about Tk 20,000-22,000. But it has shot up to Tk 25,000-30,000, he said.

The supply of products in the Karwan Bazar kitchen market plunged by half due to the strike, sending the prices of essential commodities high.

Rahman alleged that he had to pay Tk 2,000 to policemen in addition to the stipulated ferry charge for a truck full of vegetables from Jashore to Dhaka.

Mubarak Ali, president of the South Bengal Vegetable Traders Cooperative Society, echoed Rahman about the additional expenses faced at the ferry ghat.

Biswajit Saha, director for corporate and regulatory affairs of City Group, said the transport strike had impacted the supply chain.

"We are trying to supply products using our own transport system. Still, about 50 per cent of the products could not be delivered."

The group has imported goods, but they could not be released from the Chattogram port due to a lack of transport, Saha added.

The situation at the country's premier seaport worsened on the third day of the strike as export and import activities were badly disrupted.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Md Omar Faruk said the delivery activity remained suspended, and the loading of export containers came to a halt yesterday.

Three container vessels -- AS Sicilia, MV Bangkok and MV Xpress Lohtse -- deferred their scheduled departure yesterday morning since they did not receive around 1,900 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export-laden containers at the port from private inland container depots as per schedule as the prime movers, which carry containers, did not operate.

Shahed Sarwar, deputy managing director of Crown Navigation Ltd, the local agent of Sicilia, said they were supposed to accept over 1,250 TEUs of export containers, but a third of them was yet to be reached.

"The vessel waited for an additional day. We may need to wait one more day since it will be a huge loss for the operator if the vessel leaves for Colombo without taking a good number of containers."

Another Colombo-bound vessel Xpress Lohtse did not receive 600 TEUs of export containers. It will have to depart today without taking the containers since its stay at the jetty has already crossed 96 hours.

Two more vessels -- SOL Hind and Kota Bistari -- are scheduled to leave the port this morning. But as of yesterday evening, both of them were waiting to receive 600 TEUs and 400 TEUs of containers, respectively. The vessels may have to push back their departure.

The disruption to the vehicular movement also badly hurt trading activity in Khatunganj, the largest commodity hub in Bangladesh.

Traders said only 20 to 30 trucks loads of goods arrived at the hub, down from 300 trucks usually.

Mohammad Idris, general secretary of the Hamidullah Mia Market Traders Association in Khatunganj, said no onion-carrying trucks showed up in the last two days.

"Sales fell by almost 60 per cent."

Kazi Belayet Hossain, the immediate past president of the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association, said most of the frozen foods were transported by the companies' own vehicles as they required a special freezing facility.

Mokbul Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Covered Vans, Trucks, Prime Movers and Ponno Paribahan Malik Samity, said most of the 3.5 lakh vehicles in the country observed the strike yesterday.

"We will continue our strike until the proposed prices of the petroleum products are cut."