Arafat kader, Ctg

In order to keep the port’s operations more dynamic, the Chittagong Port has temporarily suspended the 04 (four) times store rent order imposed on imported FCL (full container load) containers. This suspension order will be effective from 23 August 2025 and will remain in force until 22 September 2025.
The 1-month suspension order was announced in a letter from the Transport Department of the Chittagong Port Authority on Wednesday (26-08-25). Chittagong Port is basically the main seaport of the country and the main center of national import-export activities. Due to the large number of containers being unloaded every day, there is a space crisis in the yard. Especially if FCL (Full Container Load) containers are not delivered quickly, the operational activities of the port are disrupted.

Due to the alarming container congestion inside the port, from March 10, 2025, as per Section 160 of the Regulations for Working of Chittagong Port (Cargo & Container), 2001, four times the store rent was imposed on FCL containers imported at Chittagong Port and Kamalapur ICD in Dhaka (excluding Pangaon ICT). As a result, it was possible to control the crisis that had arisen in the operational activities due to the accumulation of excess containers in the port yard. Because of the fear of charging additional rent, importers were encouraged to unload the goods very quickly.
It is to be noted that the FCL container rent at the Chittagong Port yard before March 10 of this year, according to the Regulations for Working of Chittagong Port (Cargo & Container), 2001 of the Chittagong Port Authority, the rule was that no rent had to be paid until a certain time (Free Time) after the imported container was unloaded at the port, but after the Free Time, a store rent had to be paid at a certain rate every day. As such, earlier, in the case of a 20-foot container: the first 4 days were free. After that, about 650 taka had to be paid from the first week, and 1,300 taka in the second week, and 2,600 taka in the third week. And in the case of a 40-foot container, the port authority used to charge about 1,300 taka daily in the first week, 2,600 taka in the second week, and 5,200 taka in the third week.
Since March of this year, the store rent has been increased four times, from about 2,800 taka to 11,200 taka per day for a 20-foot container. And the traders have had to pay about 5,600 taka to 22,400 taka per day for a 40-foot container.
However, recently, when various business organizations including BGMES requested the port authority to less the store rent, than the Chittagong Port Authority decided to suspend the four-time store rent order for one month.