The shipping companies have launched a protest and suspended transporting cargoes to and from Chittagong port after the High Court ruled a US $130 surcharge they imposed in June on every six-metre-long (20-foot) container transported by the ships was illegal and notified them to return the money.
Companies stated, surcharge levied on local exporters and importers was needed to recover delay costs caused by 'huge' port congestion.
All but one company namely, HRC, the largest Bangladeshi-owned shipping company with 10 ships, took part in the protest.
Chittagong is the nation's biggest port and in the year ended June 30, the port handled 90 percent of the country's 24bn-dollar foreign trade.
A deadlock has been created and if it persists, it will be a disaster for Bangladesh because the suspension will affect more than 75 percent of their export and import trade.
This move has alarmed garment manufacturers whose exports account for over 75 percent of the country's $10.5bn export trade and who have been enjoying a recent boom in business.
It will be a catastrophe if the strike is not withdrawn as Bangladesh exports had rose 21.6 percent to $10.53bn in the year to June 30, powered by a record 24 percent export rise in textile shipments.
Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), a trade body of 4,200 garment factories, threatened to file suit against the companies over their action as the shipping companies were going against the law of the land and also international maritime laws.
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