Ctg port must speed up goods delivery: Experts

Business Desk :
The Chattogram port must fast-track the unloading of goods, install modern equipment, and improve service quality in order to cut congestion and facilitate Bangladesh’s fast-expanding global trade, speakers said on Tuesday.
“The system of releasing goods from the Chittagong port is quite complex. We need to get out of this as soon as possible,” said Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association Vice President Khairul Alam Sujan.
He urged the customs authorities to extend support to this end.
He spoke at a roundtable titled “Development of Chittagong port with domestic investment” organised by the Daily Ittefaq at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, acting president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the challenges facing the Chittagong port have intensified in keeping with the growth of the industrial sector of the country.
“Due to the continuous rise in the number of containers used to move export and import cargoes, additional time is being taken to release goods.”
He called vessel congestion a permanent feature and cited that Chittagong port is one of the ports in the world where releasing goods takes a higher time.
Businesses have to wait 11 days and six hours to have their cargo released after their arrival at seaports, including Chattogram port, according to the Time Release Study 2022 of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, however, said businesses require longer than 11 days as the NBR still physically examines documents against shipments.