Steep hike in charges for handling outbound goods boxes in Bangladesh

It also announced a hike in charges for handling empty cargo boxes and some other services.

The higher charges will be effective beginning September this year.

A 35-per cent additional US tariff on Bangladesh’s exports may take effect on August 1.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said the move will lead to high pressure on the export-oriented industry.

A BICDA circular said the investment cost of inland container depots (ICDs) has increased significantly and capacity expansion of depots has turned difficult. Cost factors include operations and investment, labour, equipment import/purchase and maintenance, devaluation of the taka against the US dollar, overhead costs due to inflation and rising bank interest rates.

"Similarly, the new ICDs are also struggling to attain financial viability and achieve full operational capability," said BICDA secretary general Ruhul Amin Sikder.

Hence BICDA has raised the empty-container-handling charges and export-cargo-handling charges, he was cited as saying by domestic media reports.

From September 1, ICDs will charge Tk 9,900 for handling a 20-foot goods-laden export container, accounting for a 60-per cent rise from the existing rate. For a 40-foot container, the revised charge will be Tk 13,200, while the charge now is Tk 8,250.

The revised charge will go up by 81 per cent to Tk 14,900 from the present cost of Tk 8,250 in case of a 40-foot-high cube container and 45-foot container.

In case of empty boxes, ground rate for a 20-foot container will increase from Tk 115 to Tk 150 while for 40-foot container it will go up from Tk 230 to Tk 300. Their lift-on/lift-off charges will be Tk 750 and Tk 700 respectively from the existing Tk 512.

The documentation charge will be increased to Tk 450 from existing Tk 276 for both 20-foot and 40-foot boxes.

The haulage charge will increase to Tk 2,500 from Tk 1,705 in case of 20-foot boxes while for 40-foot boxes the charge will rise to Tk 5,000 from existing Tk 3,410.

BICDA is also raising CFS storage charges, labour charge, sorting charge and reefer plug-in charge.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)