As part of its initiative to strengthen its operations in Bangladesh, where it has served the country’s exporters connect to the global market for almost three decades, A P Moller – Maersk, in partnership with Ispahani Summit Alliance Terminals Limited (ISATL), decided to build a custom bonded warehouse.
A press release from the company said that despite the impressive growth of garments’ exports from Bangladesh, the number of warehouses in Chattogram have not increased since 2012, with the sole exception of ISATL, which became operational in 2018. Optimising utilisation of available capacity assisted to an extent, however, it did not scale enough to meet the trade’s requirements. As a result, the logistics ecosystem and the Chittagong Port get stretched, particularly during the peak seasons. Moreover, delays in offloading cargo also led to the longer truck waiting time and delay in the despatch of containers to the port, consequently resulting in a lack of overall productivity. These challenges have serious consequences on the country’s overall economy, given that the Chittagong Port handles in excess of 90% of the total containerised trade to and from Bangladesh.
Recognising these challenges, Maersk Bangladesh has partnered with ISATL to build a 200,000 sq ft custom bonded warehouse. ISATL is a pioneer in constructing and operating warehouses and CFS and operate four CFS within Chattogram and the River Terminal at Dhaka. Under the scope of this partnership, ISATL will build a brand new custom bonded warehouse within the existing premises of the facility located at Pathortoli in Chattogram. The new warehouse will double the existing capacity at ISATL and add around 8% additional space to the existing ecosystem at Chattogram. The construction of the new CFS has already commenced and is expected to be completed in a phased manner by the end of 2022.
Angshuman Mustafi, Managing Director, Maersk Bangladesh, said, “By partnering with ISALT, we are establishing a facility that has the potential to partially decongest the system from the landside and streamline the flow of cargo in and out of Bangladesh.”
Yasser Rizvi, Managing Director, ISATL, said, “We are proud to partner with Maersk on this exciting long term project where ISATL’s extensive local experience combined with Maersk’s international best practices will allow us to create a truly world-class facility that will help raise the standards for the entire industry.”