Chemicals manufacturing industries are facing raw material shortage as shipping lines restrain from moving hazardous cargo, as they are facing complexities in unloading the cargo at Chittagong Port. Shipping lines are shying away from hazardous cargo following the recent fire accident at BM Container Depot. As a result, a crisis of raw materials has been created in various chemical-dependent companies, including manufacturers of medical devices, leather, textiles and garments, said sector insiders.
On 7 June this year, shipping agent Ocean International Ltd sent a letter to JMI Industrial Gas Limited regarding stopping of transportation of hazardous goods which includes fire extinguisher, refrigerant gas, ethylene oxide, sulphur dioxide gas cylinder, sulphur hexafluoride, organic peroxides, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate, acetone, butanol, cyclohexanone, methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, butyl acetate, isopropyl, alcohol, thinner, xylene, ethyl acetate, solvent MTT, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, toluene, sodium nitrate, and sulphur.
Production at factories of JMI Group, the country’s largest medical device manufacturer, is in crisis due to the chemical crisis, and to get rid of such a situation, JMI Industrial Gas Limited, a subsidiary of JMI Group, wrote a letter to the chairman of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) on 26 June.
However, Chattogram port officials said the authorities have not issued any order or imposed any prohibitions regarding the handling of dangerous goods. Such products and containers are being handled through the port as per the usual rules, following the instructions of the Bangladesh Navy, they added.
Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association Director Shahed Sarwar said shipping lines across the globe took many precautionary measures after major accidents like that in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. After the fire incident in BM Depot in Sitakunda, the PSA Corporation of Singapore ordered to limit the shipment of hydrogen peroxide from Bangladesh on the pretext of safety and lack of capacity of the yard.
There should be a separate depot for hazardous chemicals, suggested Shahed.
