Readymade garment exporters are unlikely to use the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) unless shipments are made cheaper and hassle-free compared to the usage of Dhaka-Chittagong highway directly connecting the seaport. The country’s RMG entrepreneurs, mostly members of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), have expressed such views in a number of meetings with the Pangaon ICT authorities. They highlighted the urgency of taking immediate measures to remove the roadblocks.RMG owners averse to using Pangaon ICT for huge hassles. According to exporters, the port remains unutilised mainly due to the high cost of container vessels, irregular schedule and lack of container vessels, absence of freight forwarders, lack of stevedoring and other logistic supports in and around the terminal. Lack of container and irregular schedule of vessels, industry sources said, mostly discourage importers and exporters from using the port as anyone who fails to connect the feeder vessel at Chittagong port will have to count demurrage and sometimes may face cancellation of order. According to sources, most of the exporters and foreign buyers import and export garment products and related raw materials to and from Bangladesh through their appointed freight forwarders who make sure cargos are shipped safely and speedily to designated destinations. But most of the freight forwarders are stationed at Chittagong and not enlisted with Pangaon ICT, which creates a lot of hassles in handling the consignments at the newly constructed ICT which also lacks most of the ancillary services. Merchandise once released and cleared by Chittagong port has to go for another series of complexities and obstacles at Pangaon ICT as there is no mention of the terminal as the port of destination. All the consignments have to be cleared by customs authorities at Chittagong port as all necessary documents, including LCs (Letter of Credits) and BL (Bill of Lading) bear the name of Chittagong as the port of call. After clearance at Chittagong port, the containers need further permission for Pangaon ICT, which also involves some extra expenses. If the procedure exceeds the free time, the shipping agents need to pay demurrage. The loading and unloading of consignments from Chittagong port for Pangaon ICT also require extra charges and labour costs. These extras also discourage businesses from using the ICT. “For lack of scheduled timing of sailing from Pangaon, there always remains an uncertainly about reaching Chittagong port in time to reach the connecting feeder vessel,” said BGMEA former vice-president Shahidullah Azim, who attended most of the meetings with the ICT management. “Instead of undergoing so many hassles, if we send the consignments through Dhaka-Chittagong highway, we can get it 3-4 days earlier with lesser cost,” he added. “Using the Pangaon ICT is not viable as unloading containers at the terminal is not cost-effective and the importers still need to hire trailers or covered vans to take the containers to factories,” said BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman while talking to The Financial Express. Besides, there are other complexities like double port charges. To use the Pangaon terminal, businesses are required to bear additional costs, on top of the high freight charges, to get their containers to the terminal from their production plants. For industrial units located in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Ashulia, carrying a 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of container (approximately 15 tonnes of cargo) from Pangaon terminal to Chittagong port costs much higher compared to transportation by rail, even by road. The country’s first inland container terminal at Pangaon on the riverbank of Buriganga was inaugurated in November 2013 with a view to easing the pressure of freight traffic on the busy Dhaka-Chittagong highway and rail routes. Built at a cost of Tk 1.54 billion at Keraniganj, adjacent to the capital, the terminal remained almost non-functional since then. According to sources, almost 90 per cent capacity of it remains unutilised as traders are showing reluctance to use it. The terminal has a storage capacity of 3,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and is capable of handling around 1.16 lakh containers annually. In comparison, it has so far handled nearly 850 containers, mostly empty ones, since its inception. In June, a water vessel reached Pangaon with only 10 goods-laden containers. In the fiscal year 2014-15, only six vessels called at the PICT from Chittagong seaport, carrying mostly empty containers, officials said. Currently, the users are not using the port for import of capital machinery and raw materials for production, which holds major share of the import. Rather, the Pangaon port is now handling containers with products like glassware and stationery goods.
