The country's reconditioned car importers have stockpiled a large number of motorised vehicles at Chittagong port expecting the government might tighten rules relating to the imported old cars' age.
The government might allow old cars which have been used for five years, instead of existing six years, from early next year, it has been learnt.
As of Friday, a total of 5666 used cars remained stockpiled at the country's premier seaport in Chittagong against its current capacity of holding around 4000 cars.
Port officials and shipping insiders said two more car carriers with 1520 cars aboard have been waiting at the outer anchorage to enter jetties over the past couple of days.
However, senior port officials said that it would not allow any car carrier until importers clear up spaces earmarked for the automobiles at the port by expediting delivery.
"We'll not allow car carriers into the jetties for the time being as we've no spaces and utilised our maximum capacity," said Commodore RU Ahmed, Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority."
Port officials said the number of delivery has recently plummeted significantly creating trouble at the port.
"Currently, importers take delivery of 70-80 cars a day instead of 150-160 earlier," said an official working at the port's traffic department.
He also said the port authority had issued letters to the shipping agents to take quick delivery from the port yards as the used cars have occupied a large space not meant for the cars.
Habib Ullah Dawn, BARVIDA president, told the FE: "Car importers have been taking slow delivery this time mainly due to the sharp fall in sales."
Mr Dawn, chief of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA), a group of 547 importers, also said: "Our sales drop during the year ending. We expect importers will take delivery soon after improvement in their sales from January."
Port officials said they have identified 1400 plus cars which have crossed 30 days' limits. After expiry of 30 days, imported items become eligible for auction, they added.
Distressed at the delay in auction, port officials said the customs has been progressing at snail's pace on the auction of cars lying piled up for long.
Earlier, the port automobiles took a move to divert the destination point to Mongla from Chittagong but the importers did not pay heed to the proposed step as they considered the second seaport to be lacking required infrastructure for dealing with imported cars.
Import of reconditioned cars has witnessed a big boom in the country's history this year, boosted by a surge in bank finance and the buying spree of the emerging upper middle class in the urban areas.
Importers procured a total of 25,972 reconditioned cars in the first nine months of the calendar year ending September, more than a 30 per cent rise during the corresponding period in 2008. |
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