Bangladesh : Garment Cargoes Strands As Foreign Ships Boycott Port

Foreign ships boycotted the Bangladesh port to protest against new government restriction on their business, as a result Garment cargoes destined for the U.S. and European markets were stranded at port.

Twenty foreign feeder vessels operating between southeastern Chittagong Port and Singapore launched their indefinite protest on May 31, after the shipping ministry ordered all foreign vessel operators to obtain its permission every time they carry cargoes to and from Bangladesh, the Chittagong Feeder Trade Committee said Sunday in a press release.

The government said its move was aimed at protecting about a dozen Bangladeshi feeder vessels and that foreign ships would get the business only if Bangladeshi ones are not available.

``The restriction is discriminatory and goes against the concept of free trading,' Kamruddin Ahmed, a member of the committee, said separately Sunday from the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

Ahmed said Bangladeshi ships have the capacity to carry only 25 percent of the cargo shipped by the feeder vessels and the resulting impact of the ministry's protectionist move would be crippling for Bangladeshi exports.

``The embargo on foreign vessels is suicidal for Bangladesh,' he said.

Feeder vessels transport goods from Bangladesh to Singapore, from where containers are loaded onto larger ships destined for the United States and Europe.

Garment exporters have also voiced concern over the new restriction on foreign vessels and have demanded its immediate withdrawal.

``The restriction must go or else our exports will suffer,' said Quazi Moniruzzaman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Readymade clothing brings in US$5 billion annually — including some US$2 billion from exports to the United States. The garment industry accounts for roughly 75 percent of Bangladesh's total export earnings each year.