57pc hike in freight forwarding charges worries BD businesses

Effective from 1 September, Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA) has hiked forwarding charges by Taka 2,000 to Taka 5,500 for each import bill, marking a whopping 57 per cent increase in freight forwarding charge, which will cause additional burden to businesses in Bangladesh.
As expected, they are a worried lot now! This has been underlined in recent media reports which maintained BAFFA has defended the move as it argued charge (dubbed as Destination Service Charge) has remained unchanged since 2014, according to Apparel Resources news portal report.
However, such a move, which BAFFA implemented consequent to the recent fuel price hike has come as a big blow for businesses in the country, especially the garment makers, putting them at risk of losing market share because of a rise in production cost, as per industry insiders.
Meanwhile, the BGMEA has demanded the decision to increase forwarding charges be withdrawn even if it wrote to the National Board of Revenue, the Ministry of Shipping, the BAFFA president, Chittagong Port and the Commissioner of the Chittagong Customs House in this regard.