Extra charges from clients halted

The owners of private inland container depots (ICDs) in the early hours of yesterday halted taking increased service charges from clients.

Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA) President Nurul Qayuum Khan told The Daily Star that they stopped taking the extra charges from 12am yesterday after getting assurance from CPA chairperson, Rear Admiral Zulfiquer Aziz that CPA and the shipping ministry will take necessary steps to solve the problem within August 25.

“To avert any deadlock in export-import activities and to honour the request from the port chairman, we promptly informed all ICD authorities to stop taking extra service charges that were implemented on Thursday morning,” said Khan, adding that he has faith in the authority’s next step.

Chairperson of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) standing committee on port and shipping, Nasiruddin Chowdhury, welcomed BICDA’s decision.

He said BICDA cannot raise charges on its own without approval from the tariff committee as it violated ICD Policy 2016.

BICDA leaders said the decision of enhancing tariffs from August 1 was not in any way a violation of the ICD Policy 2016. They said that according to the policy, a tariff committee formed by the shipping ministry would have to fix all tariffs and service charges with approval from the ministry.

“We are operating since 2006 and have been charging tariffs fixed by CPA committees,” Khan explained, saying that a tariff committee had not been formed until 2017, and it did not hold any meetings regarding fixing the tariffs.

He added that another tariff committee was formed in April this year, and it is yet to fix tariff rates. “As no tariff rates have been set according to the policy, there is no question of violating it,” he concluded.