Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry is concerned over the congestion at Chittagong port. Feeder vessels are leaving the port without using their full capacity. This port handles around 80 per cent of the country’s total apparel exports. Delivery of imported raw materials from the port is delayed. This makes it difficult to produce and ship products on time. It takes 15 to 20 days for un-stuffing the LCL (Less than Container Load) containers from ships while berthing of vessels is being delayed by seven or eight days.

So it becomes necessary for the apparel sector to make costly air shipments mainly to meet lead times. Many feeder vessels miss mother vessels due to the slow pace of loading and unloading. Before the war of liberation there were 13 jetties at the port. But only seven jetties have been added in the last 46 years.

Businessmen have been pressing for enhancing the capacity of the port through installing more jetties and yards and increasing handling equipment. Since 2004, the capacity of the port has not been enhanced though export and import activities have increased significantly. For now, the industry is losing work orders as delivery of samples is taking time due to the congestion.