Shutdowns to fight the Covid-19 menace have affected loading and unloading activities at the container jetties of the Chittagong port resulting in undue wait and congestion of the container vessels at the outer anchorage.
Also, as importers are reportedly not taking delivery of their cargo-laden containers duly from the storage yard thereby clogging up over 90 per cent of its available space, there is little room left for the containers' free movement. As a result, the Chittagong port is facing the double whammy of container ship logjam leading to their overstay at sea, on the one hand and container congestion at the storage yard, on the other. In the end, the port's regular operation is being hampered. Worse yet, the port authorities would be liable to pay demurrages for each day of unscheduled wait of the container ships.
As we are in the midst of an emergency due to the pandemic, it is hardly the time to hold any particular quarter responsible for the deadlock so created at the port. The entire problem has to do with the overall situation of dislocation in the country caused by the lockdown enforced since March 26. So, care needs to be taken to avoid any controversy, if we are to get around the impasse. Therefore, all the stakeholders concerned should cooperate in finding out ways to resolve the crisis and keep the Chittagong port running smoothly. Otherwise, the business will suffer, so will the economy. .
About a dozen offices belonging to certain government agencies, whose job is to have the containers cleared from the port, are said to be remaining closed. In that case, the authorities concerned should look into the matter to ensure that such offices start working without any further delay. At the same time, the shippers who have a high stake in releasing their containers from the port should sort out any problems they might be facing in this regard with the appropriate authorities. On this score, they can take the full advantage of the government-announced storage charge waiver to clear their cargoes within the stipulated exemption period until April 25.
Drawing on the experience of all other countries at war with the pandemic, our policymakers in the government and the business leaders must find out a way to see that the business is kept running under any circumstances. As Bangladesh, unlike the rich nations, is not in a position to inject billions of dollars worth of stimulus money into the economy to bail out the business as well as to provide unemployment allowances to hundreds of millions of people, we cannot afford to shut down businesses and farm work altogether while fighting the pandemic. It sounds like a tall order, but there are also fewer alternatives before us than to achieve it.
With the increase in the intensity of the battle against the virus as it has begun to infect more people, the need for narrowing differences among all the major actors in the community is becoming more urgent. Any failure in this regard will only exacerbate matters.
The Chittagong port being the main gateway to the country's foreign trade, cannot be allowed to suffer like this for an indefinite period. Basically, the country's economy is import dependent and export-led. So the gluts at the port need to be cleared by contingency measures. Indeed, every effort should be made to ease the ongoing congestion and restore functioning of the Chittagong port in time for stepped-up foreign trade going forward.