Bangladesh Delays Continue

Delays from Bangladesh are set to continue with an increase in backlogs since work stopped during Eid al-Adha (The Sacrifice Feast).

Congestion at Chittagong port has heightened considerably in recent months, with the average time in port for vessels rising to almost 90 hours.

At one point last week 22 vessels were in the queue to be unloaded, and container numbers at the dock yard have risen from 24,000 to 35,000 TEU in just the past 2/3 weeks.

Steve Ireland, UniOcean Managing Director commented “The situation is not improving and there seems to be no immediate end in sight. We urge customers to order product as early as possible and to advise us what they have in the pipeline”.

“Our Global Trade Management team are staffed locally and have  managed to circumnavigate some delays by changing routings, but the earlier we are made aware of shipments, the more chance we have of being able to help”.

The port delays have further burdened the already congested airports, which have also been subject to additional security procedures recently due to terrorist alerts.