Staff Correspondent:

A total of 269 lighterage ships carrying thousands of tonnes of imported goods have been floating in the sea and rivers in different parts of the country for several weeks, creating a crisis of such vessels at the Chittagong port.

It has been alleged that importers are not unloading the goods from the vessels deliberately as part of their strategy to hike prices by creating an artificial shortage ahead of Ramadan.

Besides, they are allegedly using the ships as floating warehouses to avoid godown charges.

Because of the vessel crisis at the Chittagong port, Bangladesh Water Transport Coordination Cell (BWTCC), the regulatory body for lighterage ships, is in trouble.

It is unable to provide the required ships to carry and unload the imported goods, while vessel schedules at the port have been disrupted. Its officials said 269 vessels have been turned into floating warehouses.

Besides, 888 vessels carrying several lakh tonnes of goods are at 69 inland ports across the country. They are loaded with a variety of commodities, including maize, wheat, sugar, gram, lentils, peas, triple superphosphate, urea, muriate of potash, coal, stones, and clinkers. Meanwhile, the country’s wholesale markets are waiting for the imported essentials to keep the supply chain running ahead of the holy month.

Some vessel owners do not want to transport consumables. On the other hand, many ships go to the Mongla and Payra ports as the fares are relatively low there than the one in Chattogram.

Moreover, cleaning ships after unloading is also costly and time-consuming. To avoid these expenditures, owners of many empty vessels are not taking the queue number that indicates their availability.

Sources said a large volume of essential goods have been imported ahead of Ramadan. Most of the products have been brought in through container ships, but some, including chickpeas, pulses, corn, wheat, sugar, soybean seeds, and lentils, have been imported as bulk cargo.

Container cargo is carried by lighterage ships from the outer anchorage to jetties, while bulk cargo is transported by such vessels to other districts.

BWTCC data shows 269 lighterage vessels unloaded several hundred thousand tonnes of goods a month ago, but the products were not transported to markets across the country.

Importers’ representatives said some vessels are stuck in the sea, but those assigned to load goods 15-20 days ago have to be given time for unloading.

They explained that a vessel cannot be expected to unload goods and become available for the next trip today if it was loaded just yesterday.

Furthermore, they said some owners wait for better fares without announcing their vessels’ availability after unloading. These owners operate their ships without the BWTCC queue number, which is why the regulator remains uninformed about their availability.