Customs agents call off work abstention at Chattogram Port
The Bangladesh Customs Agents Association has withdrawn its four-hour daily work abstention at Chattogram Port, bringing relief to the country's busiest seaport after days of labour unrest and operational disruptions.
The association suspended the programme today (20 October), a day after it began, following the Chattogram Port Authority's (CPA) decision to suspend the recently increased gate pass fee for customs agents' workers and employees.
Saiful Alam, president of the Bangladesh Customs Agents Association, confirmed the development to The Business Standard.
"As the CPA has agreed to suspend the raised gate pass fee, we have decided to withdraw the work abstention programme," he said. "The CPA informed us this morning, and we immediately instructed our workers to return to duty."
He added that discussions on other demands, including the tariff issue, are being handled by the Port Users' Forum. "They will announce further programmes, if needed. For now, our protest has been suspended," he said.
The customs agents had launched the work abstention yesterday morning, shortly after transport owners and workers enforced a strike that disrupted container movement to and from the port.
The CPA held a meeting with transport leaders yesterday and agreed to suspend the gate pass fee hike — from Tk57 to Tk230 — which led the transport owners and workers to call off their strike around 3:30pm that day.
With both the strike and the work abstention now withdrawn, container delivery operations began to return to normal today, easing congestion and delays at the port.
CPA Secretary Omar Faruk said there has been no more disruption. "Container handling and delivery operations are going on smoothly," he added.
Earlier, the port witnessed a sharp decline in container movement during the 40-hour strike enforced by transport owners and workers protesting the Chattogram Port Authority's (CPA) decision to raise the gate pass fee by nearly 300%, from Tk57 to Tk230.
According to port data, container delivery fell by 45% in four days during the strike. On 19 October, only 295 TEUs were delivered — far below the daily average of 4,500 TEUs — before the strike was called off around 3:30pm after CPA agreed to suspend the fee hike.
The port's daily performance report shows that a total of 101 vessels were at the port today — 50 were unloading cargo at the outer anchorage, 32 were waiting for berths, and 16 were berthed at the main jetties.