RMG exporters seek govt intervention to ease cargo backlog at ICDs

Industry Desk: Readymade garment (RMG) and knitwear exporters have demanded the government to take urgent steps to solve the severe container crisis and squeezed capacity in containers.
Exporters held a meeting with the inland depot owners, shipping agents and freight forwarders recently. At the meeting, the leaders of various exporters’ associations and their stakeholders sat to find out the explanations behind the current severe backlog of export cargoes at private inland container depots (ICDs).
After attending the meeting, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan told a leading daily, “We tried to identify the bottlenecks and sought proposals from the stakeholders to find out solutions to the crisis that is hindering country’s export.”
Another source said exporters sought precise data from Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association about the total number of export load containers and 40-foot empty containers currently lying at the ICDs.
The leaders conversed some proposals, including growing the number of feeder’s vessels on the routes from Chattogram port to the transshipment ports to bring carry more import and export containers.
Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association President Kabir Ahmed said to the media, “But then came into discussion the issue of the export containers to get stockpiled at the transshipment ports, which are already facing container congestion.”
Different export sector representatives including RMG, knitwear, terry towel and leather goods, the leaders of freight forwarders’ association, shipping agents and buying houses also joined the meeting.