A glut of fresh fruits organized at the port
With the attention on Ramadan, Jannat Enterprise, a Dhaka-based importer, earned about 250 tonnes of dates from Egypt in 20 refrigerated (reefer) containers that attained the Chattogram port 15 days ago.
By yesterday, on the next day of Ramadan, the importer was yet to have the dates, whose consumption sees a spike through the Muslim holy month, on hand.
Including Jannat Enterprise's dates, more than 57,000 tonnes of fruits like apple, date, orange, grape in about 2,300 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs) of reefer containers were lying at the port against the capability of just one 1,620 TEUs.
The staggered release of the imported perishable goods, mostly fruits, from the port, means there is a good chance of supply shortage available in the market during Ramadan.
And the reason the goods are stuck at the port is the countrywide movement control order since March 26 to flatten the curve on coronavirus that has left delivery decelerating to a snail's pace and offices firmly shut.
The reefer containers used to move perishable are actually posing a big challenge for the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA)since it desperately looks to resolve the acute container congestion.
Because the reefer containers are kept at the upper rows, delays in discharging them holds back the entire discharge of other import containers, leading to overstay of the vessels at the port's jetties, said Ajmir Hossain Chowdhury, assistant general manager of Mediterranean Shipping Company.
And such overstay at the jetties are forcing the port authority to make berthing delays, increasing vessels' waiting time at the outer anchorage, he added.
For example, a vessel Cape Quest carrying 1,285 TEUs of import containers, including 62 TEUs reefer ones, got a berth at NCT jetty No. 3 on April 24 after a nine-day wait.
Only 482 TEUs could be unloaded from the vessel until yesterday morning as the reefer ones cannot be discharged due to shortage of plug-in capacity in the yards, said officials of the ship's local agent Sea Consortium.
The reefer containers ought to be constantly connected to a power source and the CPA can supply electricity to at best 2,100 TEUs.
Though the overall delivery from the port improved within the last few days after a concerted effort by the finance and shipping ministries, the reefer containers lying at the port are triggering delays in timely unloading from vessels, according to CPA Member Md Zafar Alam.
So desperate may be the CPA that it recently sent letters to the leaders of Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importer Association and Chattogram Fruit Trader Association to insist their members to eliminate their imported consignments.
But the matter has gone out of the fruit importers' hands.
Borhan Uddin Sikder, Jannat Enterprise's C&F agent, said due to flight disruption for the global coronavirus pandemic suppliers are failing woefully to send the initial bill of lading (B/L), which is needed for getting delivery order from the shipping agents.
And Jannat Enterprise's supplier is yet to take action, he added.
