Intense competition is ongoing among Private Inland Container Depots (ICDs) to see who can handle the most import and export cargoes, which is helping to ease congestion at the port of Chittagong by facilitating quick customs clearance of shipments.

At present, there are 19 private DCIs located in and around Chittagong City.

Of these, six ICDs have remained in the lead for handling export and import containers over the past five years.

About 10.12 lakh TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) of import and export containers were handled by the 19 DCIs in the just ended calendar year. However, the top six DCIs jointly processed around 60% of the total volume.

The six ICDs are: KDS Logistics Ltd, Portlink Logistics Center Ltd, two units of Summit Alliance Port Ltd (East and West), Esack Brothers Industries Ltd and Incontrade Ltd.

In total, the 19 DCIs handled about 7.2 lakh TEUs of export containers last year, while the top six DCIs jointly handled 3.95 lakh TEUs, or 55.81 percent of the total volume.

The 19 depots in total handled some 3.03 lakh TEUs of import containers, while the same six major DCIs handled 2.03 lakh TEUs, or 66.97% of the total volume.

KDS Logistics has maintained its first position in export container management for the past five years, while it has also maintained its second position in import container management for the past two years.

Portlink Logistics has held the top spot in import container handling for two years, while KDS held the rank in 2019 and 2018.

These two ICDs have been seen engaged in an intense competition to clinch the top spot in cargo container handling since 2016.

Md Jahangir Alam, deputy general manager of KDS Logistics, said that customers always put quality of service first.

“Since we maintain all international standards in delivering our services, reputable international buyers who always prefer compliance appoint our depot,” Alam said.

The depot has more than 90 container vehicles which operate 24 hours a day. It also has the heavy equipment needed to handle the movement of containers as easily as possible, he added.

Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary of the Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association, said the six major DCIs handle a large share of containers, mainly for their relatively larger storage capacities.

The 19 DCIs play an important role in facilitating Bangladesh’s foreign trade by handling a large portion of the total export and import cargoes that are transported through the port of Chittagong.

Private DCIs handled 93% of the total export containers transported by the port while they handled about 23% of the total imports in 2021.

“We have long called for an increase in the number of imported items to be processed in private DAIs,” Sikder said.

Currently, only 38 types of import goods are sent to private INNs from the port for delivery to consignees.

Mentioning that in most global container ports, almost all import containers are delivered outside port yards, Sikder said that if more types of import cargo are allowed to be delivered by ICDs, the efficiency of the port of Chittagong would be improved.