Importers and their clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents are found to account for nearly 80 per cent of the total port-clearance time at Bangladesh's prime seaport, significantly limiting the benefits of customs automation.
Chattogram Customs House (CCH) in a recent review has found such dilatory move on part of the traders and forwarders, in the wake contentions regarding time lapses in trade handling at ports.
The review shows that despite the introduction of several quick-fire automated processes, Bangladesh's port -clearance time has not fallen substantially because importers often delay submitting Bills of Entry (B/E).
The analysis, based on ASYCUDA World data for April 2026, found that even consignments eligible for the green channel under the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme take an average of 271 hours -- more than 11 days -- from submission of the Import General Manifest (IGM) to final release.
Customs officials have said they have virtually no manual involvement in releasing AEO consignments. Once an importer submits the Bill of Entry, customs assessment is completed automatically.
"Whatever improvements customs introduces, the overall port release time cannot be reduced unless importers submit their Bills of Entry promptly," a senior customs official told the FE Saturday.
"We need a proper policy requiring importers or their agents to submit Bills of Entry within a specified timeframe. Otherwise, port release time will not come down despite automation."
The official said the National Single Window (NSW)- initiative has already shortened customs -assessment time, with most assessments now completed within two days.
He said simple regulatory changes could substantially reduce Bangladesh's port -clearance time, citing India's experience.
India has made submission of Bills of Entry mandatory within a day of cargo arrival in 2019. As a result, its ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business (Trading across the Border index) improved sharply to 80th position from 146th a year earlier. Within a year, the country's average port-clearance time for import fell to around 96.7 hours from 264.5 hours.
Indian Customs Act 1962 section 46 says, "The importer shall present the bill of entry under sub-section (1) before the end of the day (including holidays) preceding the day on which the aircraft or vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at a customs station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing."
In Bangladesh, however, customs rules do not prescribe any mandatory deadline for importers to submit bills of entry. By contrast, customs authorities are legally required to complete assessment within five days.
A presentation prepared by the Chattogram Customs House has shown that customs takes an average of 58 hours to complete manifest processing, including conversion from the general segment to waybill, container and dangerous-goods (DG) segments, and issuance of the manifest registration number.
According to ASYCUDA World data, 46 per cent of customs assessments are completed within one day after submission of the bill of entry, 76 per cent within one day, 82 per cent within two days, and 88 per cent within three days.
Minutes of a recent customs meeting, obtained by The Financial Express, also showed that 76 per cent of customs assessments were completed within a day.
However, even after submission of bills of entry and payment of duties and taxes, average cargo release still takes another 89 hours.
Since June, the Chattogram Customs House has introduced an automated routing system allowing importers to submit bills of entry without signed hard copies.
The customs house has also proposed incorporating these automation measures into the customs rules through the national-budget proposals this year.
Officials note that importers frequently take another two to three days to pay duties and taxes despite the availability of the digital A-Challan payment system.
Tapas Biswas, Manager (VAT, Finance) at Pharmaceuticals PLC, an AEO-certified company, says both customs officials and importers need to improve efficiency to reduce port -clearance time.
"Some junior customs officials still remain doubtful about AEO companies, suspecting that they may evade duties or receive excessive privileges," he adds.
Such mistrust sometimes creates unnecessary delays, as officials become reluctant at certain stages of the process, he noted.
He also pointed to delays at the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), where release documents are processed before customs clearance is completed.
In some stages, limited adaptation to the digital customs system also slows the process.
Mr Biswas added that frequent transfers of customs officials create another challenge, as newly posted officers often require time to become familiar with AEO green -channel procedures.
Under the AEO rules, companies must renew their certification annually.
"Our certification expired in December last year, but we have not yet received the renewed certificate," he said.
"Although customs continues to extend the facilities under special considerations, the file movement involved in the renewal process is lengthy and time-consuming."
Mr Biswas, however, disagrees with the customs assessment that importers alone are responsible for nearly 80 per cent of the clearance delay.
"Importers cannot be held solely responsible for such a large share of the delay," he said, arguing that procedural bottlenecks across multiple agencies also contribute significantly to the overall clearance process.
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