Bangladesh in lockdown as virus halts business and threatens the economy

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Bangladesh’s key seaport, Chittagong, is facing heavy congestion in its yard as a government-decreed national holiday restricts the flow of goods.

The government has declared a 10-day general holiday between 26 March and 4 April, barred people from going outside from your home and halted all types of commercial activities except emergency services.

Chittagong is continuing operations amid the virtual lockdown so that they can avoid vessel congestion and the creation of a shortage of essential goods in the domestic market.

However, Bangladesh Customs is releasing only essential commodities, such as for example food grains, pharmaceuticals and coronavirus prevention-related materials from the port yard, as only a restricted number of its officials remain working.

Due to this fact, the port has massive congestion in its yard: today, some 40,469 teu of containers stay in the region, against its total capacity of some 49,000 teu.

However, the customs authority said it was likely to “engage its full manpower so it can release all sorts of containers from the port yard to lessen congestion”.

The government in addition has doubled rail cargo capacity on the Chittagong-Dhaka-Chittagong path to ensure a smooth way to obtain essential goods from the port. Usually, three to four cargo trains are powered by the route daily, this has now risen to 6 to 8.

Bangladesh Railways eastern region official Omar Faruk said that while passenger train services remained suspended through the entire country, cargo trains were running well, without any delays, and carrying an elevated number of containers from the port.

Exporters, however, are facing more and more cancelled orders. Since Friday, almost all of the 4,000 apparel factories, except those that still have orders, have already been closed to avoid the spread of coronavirus among the four million garment workers, nearly all which are female.

But as the virus spreads, and shows no sign of weakening, a large number of buyers have either cut or suspended orders for millions of bits of apparel items, worth almost $3bn, so far.

“One after another, several hundred thousand apparel employees will face a problem,” said Dr Rubana Huq, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

The other day in a video message she urged international apparel buyers to aid the garment industry of Bangladesh, adding: “That is a disaster that neither humanity nor commerce are able.”

Senior vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Mohammad Hatem told The Loadstar knitwear makers were facing order cuts of near $1bn.

“But we are keeping factories closed as part of an effort to support the spread of the virus,” he said. The federal government has declared a Tk50bn ($595m) bailout package to greatly help the export-oriented sectors to handle the fallout of the Covid-19.

Apparel sector officials said almost all of the factories would face closure in lack of work. Some might need to lay off staff.

Few exports means that the decision to cut passenger flights will not considerably hamper cargo movements, Since yesterday, the only passenger air connectivity between Bangladesh is to China. Civil Aviation Authority officials said the flight suspension would continue until 7 April, whenever a further decision will be studied after review.

However, all regular cargo flights and special cargo flights will stay in operation.

The government in addition has blocked shore passes for all vessel crews from abroad. Crew-changing in addition has been suspended for an indefinite period. If any crew needs to go home for a crisis, they must first undergo a 14 day-isolation period.

Early last week, the government suspended issuing ‘no objection’ certificates for vessels to arrive for dismantling, also until 7 April.  Five such vessels were delivered to deepsea isolation for 14 days.
Source: https://theloadstar.com

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