In a recent letter to the port authority seeking the land, the association mentioned a Tk100 crore joint investment plan with Japan.
The association said the container freight station – a large warehouse specialising in the consolidation and deconsolidation of cargo – will enable imported cargo delivery to factories from the port within just 24 hours.
At present, delivery time takes more than 10 days, including customs clearance, according to data from the national revenue board. In developed countries, it takes only 1-2 days to get the imported consignments delivered.
The container freight station, also known as a cargo distribution park, will be in a bonded area to which only air and sea freight forwarders will have access. The park will reduce both time and cost for cargo delivery from Chattogram seaport and airport, said freight forwarders.
They said export cargoes will enter the park warehouse through a single gate and be placed on the ship at the port subsequently. Similarly, the imported items will leave the port through the warehouse and be sent on the next leg of their journey.
“This will limit the number of people crowding and trucks swamping the port every day,” Khairul Alam Sujon, vice-president of the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association, told The Business Standard.
He said the association is often blamed whenever goods are stolen or damaged during the lengthy cargo delivery.
“If we can build a Singapore-like distribution park in Bangladesh, all stakeholders will be benefited. The port will get more revenue, as our job will be easier too,” he commented.
Currently, there are 19 private inland container depots in Chattogram with a total capacity of around 76,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers. Though the depots have up to 25% of the capacity lying idle in regular times, cargo handling pressure mounts after the two Eids every year – causing trucks to queue up before the depots for 15-20 days for loading and unloading.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has set a $100 billion export target by 2030. With the existing off-docks, apparel-makers claim it is not possible to handle twice the current export volume.
They note that the container storage capacity needs to be doubled to handle export growth in the coming years, and the distribution park could be the solution.
Referring to modern ports, BGMEA Vice-President Syed Nazrul Islam said the freight forwarders at Chattogram should have their own warehouse.
“We do not disagree with their initiative to set up a distribution park. Since the government has set up 100 economic zones in Bangladesh, such facilities need to be constructed along with them,” he told The Business Standard.
Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam said it should first be taken into consideration as to how much businessmen will benefit from the park.
“It must be ensured that businessmen are not held hostage when deliveries from the port go to a privately managed distribution park,” he told The Business Standard.
The Chattogram Port Authority Chairman, Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, said it is not possible to allocate land right now as the construction of the Bay Terminal project has not started yet. “Besides, the national revenue board has not given permission for the freight station to be set up. Still the construction of the park is possible if the government insists,” he told The Business Standard.
