Hundreds of shipping containers and luxury vehicles worth millions of dollars have been piling up for years across the car sheds and yards of Chittagong Port the country's primary maritime gateway. Due to prolonged bureaucratic delays by Chittagong Customs in executing timely auctions, these valuable national assets are decaying under open skies. Concurrently, the port authority is grappling with a severe space crisis, severely hindering its routine operational efficiency.
Hundreds of Vehicles and Containers Pile
According to the latest data from port and customs sources, over 8,000 to 9,000 auctionable containers remain un-cleared at the Chittagong Port yard, occupying nearly 18% of the port's total storage capacity.
Meanwhile, multi-million dollar luxury vehicles are decaying in the car sheds. Notably, following the fall of the previous Awami League government, over 44 luxury vehicles—including 31 high-end Toyota Land Cruisers imported under duty-free privileges by former ministers and members of parliament (MPs)—were abandoned and left neglected in the sheds.
Bureaucratic Hurdles and Protracted Legal Battles
Under customs regulations, any cargo left unclaimed for 45 days after offloading from a vessel must be put up for auction. However, administrative red tape often leaves these assets hanging in limbo for years due to specific core issues:
Unrealistic Reserve Prices: The baseline or reserve price set by customs authorities for auctions is often unrealistically higher than the actual market value. For instance, the reserve price for each of the former MPs' Land Cruisers was set at approximately BDT 9.67 crore ($815,000 USD). During auctions, bidders offered nominal prices ranging from BDT 1 lakh to 5 lakh, forcing customs to cancel the sales, as laws prohibit selling items significantly below the reserve price.
Gridlocked Lawsuits: Many importers file writ petitions in the High Court against seized containers or vehicles flagged for duty evasion or false declarations. Armed with court stay orders, these goods remain legally untouchable for customs authorities for years.
Severe Space Constraints Stifle Port Operations
The Chittagong Port Authority bears the brunt of this massive accumulation of auctionable containers and vehicles. The port is facing a critical shortage of space to accommodate newly arrived import cargo.
Furthermore, prolonged exposure to harsh weather conditions is ruining valuable commodities, while luxury cars are rusting away into scrap metal. When eventually sold at throwaway prices as junk, it results in astronomical revenue losses for the national exchequer.
E-Auction Initiatives and Essential Legal Reforms
To mitigate the severe container congestion, the Chittagong Customs House under directives from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has launched special initiatives to auction off over a hundred containers through an online E-Auction system scheduled for May and June.
However, port stakeholders firmly believe that unless there is a fundamental shift in bureaucratic mindsets and immediate amendments to complex auction laws, preventing this permanent congestion and the outright destruction of national assets will remain impossible.
