NBR bids for faster port clearance

The revenue board yesterday directed its customs stations to facilitate clearance of all export and import consignments, moving away from its previous position to process documents for only essentials, industrial raw materials and emergency medical products.

The move comes to alleviate the acute contained congestion at the Chattogram port, leaving incoming vessels to wait for days on end to get a berth.

As of yesterday, import containers lying at the port reached 49,974 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), against the capacity of 49,018 TEUs.

This means those who import goods for commercial purposes will be also able to clear their goods, said a senior official of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Since the beginning of the countrywide shutdown, the NBR included more imported products in its list to facilitate the clearance from the ports and ensure a smooth supply chain of goods in the country.

It initially asked field offices of customs at ports to keep services running at a limited capacity to facilitate the clearance of essential commodities and shipment of export items.

Later, the NBR included industrial raw materials, capital machinery and parts, agricultural equipment and components, ingredients of poultry and fish feeds and the goods imported under diplomatic privilege and brought into the country by the public, semi-government and autonomous organisations in the list of items for duty assessment and clearance.

In its order yesterday, the NBR asked all customs stations to keep normal office activities open.

It, however, suggested customs officials take protective measures as per guidelines of health directorate and ensure social distance.