Bangladesh’s main seaport faced mounting disruption after prime mover and trailer owners halted container moves and clearing and forwarding (C&F) staff launched a four-hour work stoppage over a sharp rise in vehicle gate-pass fees under a revised tariff schedule.
Owners said they stopped running prime movers and trailers from late on October 14, following the Chattogram Port Authority’s decision to raise the entry fee for heavy vehicles at the port gates from Tk57 to Tk230—part of a broader tariff revision averaging 41 percent that took effect at midnight on October 14/15.
Mohammad Hossain, general secretary of the Chattogram Prime Mover & Flatbed Owners’ Association, told local media that operators suspended movements because fixed route costs—fees, tolls and tips—had been upended by the sudden increase.
He said leaders had spoken with the port’s director (security) and hoped to resume talks with the port chairman upon his return to Chattogram.
The association and other transport bodies have separately announced programmes in protest. The owners’ association identity and recent activism are documented in local business coverage.
C&F agent groups meanwhile observed a four-hour work abstention at Chattogram port on Sunday morning, according to union representatives. The spelling and designation of C&F labour leaders, including general secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan of a C&F employees’ union, are consistent with earlier reports on port-related stoppages.
At a protest meeting at the Navy Convention Hall on Saturday (October 18), Port Users Forum convener Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury warned that if the tariff dispute is not resolved within a week, stakeholders would move to shut down Chattogram port.
Business federations and trade bodies have separately urged authorities to review or defer the hikes, citing the likely pass-through to consumer prices.
Amid the unrest, Chittagong Port Authority Secretary Md Omar Faruk said cargo handling and other terminal operations remained normal, though movement of trailers and other freight vehicles faced obstruction in places.
Truck owners’ federations outside Chattogram have also threatened to join the protest over the gate-pass fee spike, while some off-dock depots reported limited trailer activity.
Stakeholders called for urgent talks among the port authority, transport owners and workers, and user groups to stabilise operations and defuse the tariff row.
The revised tariff—CPA’s first comprehensive update in nearly four decades—was issued by gazette in early September and came into force on October 15.
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