Supply chain on the brink

Just when full-scale transit of goods via the Chittagong port resumed after a 16-day strike by lighter-vessel workers, the 36-hour shutdown starting today has dealt yet another blow to the supply chain.
Though the port deadlock ended, the importers will not be able to take the goods to the consumers due to the countrywide shutdown and it is the consumers who will bear the extra price at the end.
The port yards are already swelling with cargo as transport of goods to and from bulk carriers anchored at the Bay of Bengal restarted yesterday after the end of work abstention by the intermediary hauliers.
A total of 34 ships loaded with over six lakh tonnes of goods were stranded at the Bay, according to Chittagong Port Authority officials.
“Although it's business as usual on hartal days at Chittagong port, it's the inland delivery that is hampered as many transport owners refuse to take their vehicles out fearing vandalism,” said Syed Farhad Uddin, secretary of CPA.
Around 70 percent of the total imported goods through Chittagong port are carried by road to the rest of the country, said Syed Sagir Ahmed, general secretary of Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association.
The movement of lorries mostly remains suspended during hartals for fears of arson attacks, severely disrupting the supply chain.
Mahbubul Alam, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said the “already-battered” supply chain will further be affected by the fresh bout of shutdowns.
He now fears the price particularly of essentials will shoot up substantially in the coming days. “Ultimately, it's the consumers that will pay the price.”
BSM Group that imported 35,000 tonnes of wheat, lentil and peas in the past two weeks had to pay a substantial fine for overstaying at the Chittagong port, said Abul Bashar Chowdhury, the group's chairman.
Now, because of the hartals, his costs have increased further, by Tk 800 to Tk 900 a tonne.
TK Group, a leading commodity trader, had a similar story to share.
The company imported 53,000 tonnes of wheat from Canada, said Tariq Ahmed, director of TK Group's operations. “We have no other option but to keep paying the fine.”
Meanwhile, the businesspersons are claiming that the transport owners have almost doubled the rent ahead of the 36-hour shutdown.
Normally, the truck fare from Chittagong port to Dhaka is Tk 14,000-15,000, but because of the shutdown it has gone up to Tk 25,000-28,000, Bakhtiar Uddin Ahmed, general manager of the Narayanganj-based Fakir Apparels, told The Daily Star.
SM Habibul Haque, convener of Chittagong Divisional Goods Carrying Transport Owner-Labour Coordination Forum, however, outright denied the allegation.
A recent study by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry found a day's hartal to be causing a loss of Tk 1,600 crore to the economy.
“Frequent hartals have put the backs of businesspersons against the wall,” said Ahmed, also a director of CCCI.