Several shipping lines informed shippers of reefer cargo about the saturation of the container terminals in Chittagong. They will apply so called ‘congestion surcharges’ with immediate effect.

The port of Chittagong is an important gateway for the region and – also taking into account a substantial annual container handling growth – congestion was already a major challenge during the last years. Which now has deteriorated due to the corona crisis and government imposed lockdowns.

According to shipping line ONE, “terminal operations and pick-up of inbound laden reefer containers has been slow in Chittagong and the terminal is facing a serious shortage of available reefer plugs”.
Therefore they informed their customers that they “may need to adjust the original transportation plan for reefer shipments to Chittagong. In such cases, this may result in arranging temporary storage arrangements for your cargo in transit or discharge of reefer containers at an alternative port without prior notice. Where operationally viable and to minimize loss and inconvenience, ONE shall endeavor to arrange onward transportation from the alternative discharge port to the originally intended destination subject to reefer plug availability.” ONE is encouraging customers to change the destination to other alternative ports. Also they have decided to apply a congestion surcharge of 1.000 USD per container with immediate effect for reefer cargo arriving in Chittagong.

French carrier CMA CGM also warned customers that “most reefer plugs at the yards of container terminals in the port are already being occupied” and they therefore “are forced to divert reefer cargo to other ports”. They apply as of today a surcharge of 1.300 USD per reefer.