Desk Report: The Chattogram port operations have started returning to normality after being hampered to a great extent due to the weeklong students’ agitation and indefinite transport strike.
The business activities in the port city, like other parts of the country, were severely hampered due to students’ agitation and transport strike.
Local businessmen alleged that they had to incur huge losses due to disruption to movement of goods-laden vehicles over the week. Import and export through the Chattogram port were also hampered during the period. Sources in the premier seaport said movement of import and export goods-laden vehicles were going on with little disruption, but the delivery from the port remained almost suspended on Sunday. Though there was strike enforced by the bus owners’ association, movement of goods-laden trucks and other modes of vehicles remained suspended due to obstruction by the agitating transport workers on Sunday, they said.
Besides, drivers of trailers also refrained from carrying containers for 13 hours since 10:00pm on Sunday following a clash over ransacking office of their organisation and vehicle of a person in the Saltgola area during the strike.
Following the work abstention, movement of the export and import containers remained stopped.
However, the drivers resumed the activities following a meeting among the Chittagong Port Authority and other agencies concerned on Monday morning.
CPA Member (Admin) Md Zafar Alam told the daily sun that before the strike on Sunday export and import goods and container-laden vehicles plied on roads with little disruption.
But it stopped on Sunday following announcement of the strike. A total of 361 containers could be delivered in 24 hours starting from 8:00am on Sunday against the on average delivery of 3,500 to 4,500 Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers, said the CPA official.
Shipment of 1,927 export containers could have been made during the period, he said.
“The loading and unloading of containers and goods from vessels at the port jetty are going on in full swing since Monday morning and we hope to get the situation eased within a short time,” said Zafar.
On the other hand, the businesses at the city’s largest wholesale market in Khatunganj and Chaktai also started returning to normalcy from Monday after the students left the street and the transport strike called off.
Contacted, Khatunganj Trade and Industry Association General Secretary Syed Sagir Ahmed told the daily sun that the trading at the wholesale market was hampered to a great extent due to the weeklong demonstration of the students blocking road and strike on Sunday.
“Usually the traders of the Chaktai and Khatunganj do business of an amount of around Tk 1,800 to Tk 2,000 crore per day. But due to the obstruction the trade came down to Tk 500 crore during the period,” said the business leader.
“The businessmen in Chattogram have been suffering due to the weighing scale on Dhaka-Chattogram highway. The street agitation and transport strike also forced them to incur losses,” said Sagir.
He, however, observed that the disruption will not affect the product price ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha. The business leader urged the agitators to keep movement of the goods-laden vehicles out of the strike purview for keeping the country’s economic wheel moving.
Mostafa-Hakim Group Director Mohammad Sarwar Alam said delivery of goods from the factories to other parts of the country was hampered due to the agitation and strike.
“Usually businesses witness downtrend due to rainfall in this season. With this, the agitation created trouble further as we had to cancel delivery and shift time after hiring vehicles,” he said.
In this regard, Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Mahbubul Alam said the businesses always bear the brunt of any street agitation.
Import and export activities were hampered at the port over the period, he said, urging the CPA authorities to take measures for speedy loading and unloading of the export and import goods to tackle the situation.