Photo: Collected
The government has suspended the recently announced tariff hike in the customs and service sector of Chittagong Port for a month in view of the strong demands of the business community.
The announcement was made by Shipping Advisor Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop titled 'Customs and Port Management: Problems, Prospects and Way Forward'.
At the workshop organized by the Economic Relations Division at the Chittagong Port Auditorium, the advisor said that the new tariff will be effective after the one-month moratorium.
He said, 'Increasing operating costs and ongoing projects including the Bay Terminal have forced the port to increase its charges. However, the temporary moratorium will reduce the pressure on exporters to some extent.'
Business leaders at the workshop demanded that the increased tariff be suspended for at least six months and some charges be reduced. They said, "The government's support is essential to keep exporters competitive in the face of new challenges in global trade, especially the US tariff hike." They proposed forming a joint task force to resolve the service crisis and reforming the law to speed up container auctions and cargo delivery.
The new tariff structure has increased the service charges of ports and private container depots (ICDs) by an average of 40-45 percent. Exporters alleged that the ICDs have increased the charges without increasing the quality or capacity of the service. At the same time, they also criticized the failure of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in quality control.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral SM Moniruzzaman said, "The port is being operated beyond its design capacity. It is still dependent on tides and is still lagging behind global standards due to its limited depth."
He stressed the need for speedy clearance of long-stalled containers, customs automation and legislative reforms to handle the potential trade growth over the next five years.
NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said that all auctionable containers stuck at the port will be listed this month and auctioned quickly. He added that initiatives have been taken to add 30 vehicles abandoned by former MPs to the government transport pool.
The paper presented at the workshop mentioned that Chittagong Port still lags behind the world's top ports in terms of logistics performance, trade costs and customs clearance efficiency.
Source: Online/GFMM
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