Fresh Ctg port strike call draws business outcry

Crisis in Chittagong port for protests against terminal lease to foreign operators deepens with planned strike resumption today that will aggravate the severe container congestion already caused by six days' strike by workers and employees.

Shiploads of cargos stayed stuck at sea and docks in a nagging container congestion at prime seaport, triggering an outcry from loss-incurring businesses.

Expressing grave concern, employers and apparel sector trade bodies, sought Chief Adviser's interference to resolve the stalemate at Chattogram port and sustain economic stability ahead of national election.

Bangladesh Employers' Federation (BEF), Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) in a joint open letter to the Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus on Saturday made the appeal.

Meanwhile, Euro-Cham aired concern over shipment disruption and joined voices with traders in urging the government to break the stalemate.

The export shipments have experienced schedule disruptions amid the deadlock. Export-shipment schedules have been thrown off due to the late arrival of containers at the port. Besides, the losses in financial terms have crossed an estimated amount of Tk 30 billion for the last six days of strike, which will swell as the indefinite strike resumes today (Sunday) as a two-day ultimatum with a weekend break for cancelling the agreed deal ends with no outcome so far.

After six consecutive days of disruption at the Chittagong port, workers and employees on Thursday suspended their work -abstention programme for two days on Friday and Saturday. But, labour leaders declared indefinite strike resumption from Sunday (February 8) again as the government did not step back from the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) lease.

According to the ex-directors of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) thousands of import and export containers have remained stuck at the port and at Inland Container Depots (ICDs) due to the work stoppage. Importers are now facing storage charges ranging from Tk 10,000 to Tk 100,000 per day. At the same time, exporters who missed shipment schedules are being forced to consider air shipment to avoid order cancellations, which are significantly increasing their costs.

Shipping companies are paying demurrage of Tk 2.5 to Tk 4.0 million per day, while each transport agent is incurring demurrage costs of Tk 5,000 to Tk 10,000 per day. The estimated economic damage from the disruption has reached at least Tk 3.0 billion, port users said. Officials at the Chittagong Customs House (CCH) say they have collected less revenue of about Tk 25.0 million in the last six days.

Businessmen, exporters and importers have said that if the work-stoppage programme continues, the congestion of ships and containers will increase at the Chittagong seaport, which will hamper the operational activities and export and import. Leader of the Chittagong Port Berth Operators Association Fazle Ekram Chowdhury said, "Efforts to book workers failed as labourers refused assignments. Employees are observing indefinite strike, halting administrative processes due to unsigned documents, resulting in a complete paralysis of port activities." 

Talking to The Financial Express, Managing Director of Sea Com Limited Amirul Haque said, "Trade and business is suffering a lot. The export and import by the country have almost stopped due to the strike. Container congestion will aggravate as operational activities are stopped due to strike. The loss will increase. Business community wants that tariff should be lower and business should be protected."

Chairman of the Bangladesh Ship Handling and Berth Operators Association Sarwar Hossain Sagar says that all additional costs, including demurrage, would ultimately be passed on to consumers.

Sources say before the strike, there were 32,111 containers loaded with imported goods at the Chittagong Port jetty. Now, that number has increased to nearly 40000. On average, 5,000 20-foot unit (TEU) containers of goods are delivered from the port every day. But, due to the strike, the delivery of containers and goods are disrupted. Besides, before the strike, there were 97 ships waiting at the port with goods. Now, there are 126 ships at the port.

During the work stoppage, a total of 8,861 containers were delivered. This works out to an average of 1,476 containers. If the situation were normal, traders could have received around 30,000 containers of goods during these six days. As a result, the number of import containers at the jetty has been increasing. Not even 10 per cent of these containers were unloaded during the two-day suspension of the strike on Friday and Saturday.

Sources have said that there are more than 5.0 million tonnes of goods in the 126 ships in the waters. This includes consumer goods and industrial raw materials. In addition, 38,459 TEUs of import containers are piled up at the jetty. Meanwhile, around 15,000 TEUs of export containers have been stranded at 19 ICDs.

The goods and containers in the ships waiting to be unloaded at the Chittagong port are worth several thousand crore taka. Besides, more than 15,000 export containers have accumulated in the depot alone.  "The value of our goods stuck at the Chittagong port is around 20,000 crore taka. As the strike will start again Sunday, the exporters and importers will face irreparable losses," he said.

After the two-day suspension of the ongoing strike, the workers and employees of Chittagong have announced a fresh indefinite work stoppage at Chittagong Port from Sunday, to protest the proposed leasing of the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to foreign operator DP World and press four other demands.

The programme was announced by the Chittagong Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad, which is pressing four demands, chief among them a clear government declaration that NCT will not be leased to DP World.

Other demands include withdrawal of all disciplinary actions taken against protesting workers, assurance that no legal action will be pursued against them, and the removal of the port chairman.

The strike was announced at a press conference at the Chattogram Press Club on Saturday afternoon, where Coordinator of the Chittagong Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad Humayun Kabir read out a written statement.

Announcing the programme, another coordinator of Chittagong Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad, Ibrahim Khokon, said the shipping adviser had assured them during a meeting on Thursday that their demands would be addressed, but no steps followed.

Chittagong port handles about 92 percent of the country's total exports. With operations disrupted for six straight days, concerns are growing over heavy losses in the export sector.

Chittagong Port users and business leaders have also warned that prolonged disruption could affect the supply of imported goods ahead of Ramadan, pushing pressure down to the consumer level.

Expressing grave concern over the ongoing disruptions at Chattogram Port, the EuroCham Bangladesh on Saturday urged the authorities to take immediate steps to ensure the full resumption of normal port operations and resolve ongoing disputes through constructive dialogue in a manner that safeguards exports, jobs national economic interests.

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (EuroCham Bangladesh) said the disruptions due to work stoppage are inflicting mounting economic losses, jeopardising export performance and undermining confidence in Bangladesh's supply-chain reliability.

"EuroCham members and European brands sourcing from Bangladesh are reporting growing concern. With export schedules collapsing, delivery windows are being missed and additional logistics costs are accruing," it said.

In the letter, the employers and apparel sector trade bodies said, "The indefinite strike and call to stop operations at the outer anchorage announced by the Chattogram Port Protection Movement Council' from today (Sunday) has created deep concern in our industry and trade," the letter read.

Terming  the worker and employee at the port 'front line' of the country's  economy, they said it is the demand of time to establish mutual cooperation between all parties including the agitators and port authorities at eth juncture of election for the greater interest of trade, business and economic stability.

They businesses and trade bodies have been holding dialogues and discussion but unfortunately in absence of mutual trust no fruitful solution has yet been made, they noted.

"Currently, the entire port is on the verge of being paralyzed as the agitators have announced to stop berthing and unloading of goods at the outer anchorage of the port," they said.

Munni_fe@yahoo.com