Bangladesh garment makers are at their wits’ ends consequent to the countrywide transport strike that has disrupted the supply chain severely even as a sense of uncertainty has gripped them as transportation of shipments to the Chittagong Port and that of raw materials from the port to production units have stalled owing to the same.
“…we are in deep uncertainty…,” reportedly, maintained Md. Akhter Hossain Apurbo, Director of the Narayanganj-based knitwear manufacturing entity Wisdom Attires Ltd., even as he was scheduled to ship about US $ 0.6million worth of products to a Spanish buyer from the Chittagong Port by 7 November, while Managing Director of Adzi Trims Ltd. (a leading accessories manufacturer) Al Shahriar Ahmed had to, reportedly, rush to Cumilla, to make sure two trucks carrying raw materials for the company and stuck there for around 24 hours due to the strike, are able to make it to the production unit.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media, Mohamad Hatem, Executive President of BKMEA, said a single day’s strike could affect at least US $ 135 million worth of exports while adding if the ongoing transport strike is prolonged, there will be pressure from buyers to ship goods by air and, failure to do so will result in orders being delayed or even cancelled even if BGMEA Vice-President Md. Shahidullah Azim expressed apprehensions of container congestion plaguing the Chittagong Port again, if the strike continues.
