The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has threatened to impose penal rent on fully-loaded containers (Full Container Load) to force the importers to get delivery immediately and free the port yard, officials said on Friday.
The warning came as the country's prime seaport is flooded with such containers causing logjam and disrupting day-to-day affairs.
According to the CPA officials, more than 37,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of fully-loaded containers were lying at the port yard against its capacity of storing 33,248 TEUs of boxes.
Last week the number of loaded containers at the port yard rose to over 40,000 TEUs prompting the Authority to issue warnings to shippers.
"After the issuance of the warning, the situation is gradually improving," said a CPA official.
In a notification, CPA director (Traffic) Enamul Karim said the number of containers at the port yard is increasing significantly since importers are getting delivery of containers slowly.
"To help continue the normal operational activities at the port yard [importers] are requested to take the delivery of FCL containers immediately," he wrote.
Mr Karim also said the port and customs authority are ready to provide delivery of the containers round the clock.
After the notification is issued the delivery situation will be observed for seven days and if the situation is not improved, additional store rent will be imposed on loaded containers in line with the section 160 of Regulations for Working of Chittagong Port (Cargo and Container), 2001, he warned.
The CPA lets importers store their containers free of charges for four days after offloading from vessels to the yard.
From the fifth day, the importers pay US$6.0 each day for every 20-feet container for the next seven days, and daily $12 for 40-feet container as rent.
The rate gets doubled when the penal rent is imposed, according to officials.
They said the imposition of such penalty in the past helped ease the congestion in the port yard to some extent.
The total storage capacity of the country's prime seaport is 49,018 TEUs, but on Friday some 44,500 TEUs of containers were lying.
Secretary of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association Ruhul Amin Sikder told the FE waterlogging in the port city due to week-long incessant rains have hampered the movement of vehicles creating stockpile of containers at the port yard.
He said the last Eid-ul-Fitr and cyclone Fani related shutdown of port and suspension of activities have also worsened the congestion.
"The condition of roads is very bad due to rains and prolonged construction work. The trucks are failing to enter the port yard and get out in time due to long tailback," he said. "These factors are pushing up the number of containers lying at the port yard," he added.
