News / Nightmare for Bangladeshi exporters as congestion and tariffs bite

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Supply chain disruptions have coalesced into a nightmare for Bangladeshi exporters and importers facing an uncertain market environment due to US tariff challenges.

A glitch in the Bangladesh customs portal, known as Asycuda World System, running for more than a week, is the latest pain point for freight industry stakeholders.

The network server’s slowness or unavailability has made online filings chaotic, according to trade sources.

“Both import deliveries and export movements have been severely affected,” one carrier source told The Loadstar.

“The server is generally down through the day, with the connection working intermittently at night to file some entries.  But it’s terribly slow,” the source explained.

To ease the backlog of shipment entries, the Bangladesh trade authority even cancelled weekend holidays for customs houses across the country on Friday and Saturday.

But there has been little solace for shippers, who say they continue to struggle with the customs network hiccups.

Those system troubles have added to the cargo risks created by the congestion issues plaguing Chittagong port, Bangladesh’s main gateway.

The pace of vessel berthing and cargo clearance has been unusually tardy or out of track since early June, following extended festival-linked holidays (Eid-ul-Adha).

Mainline container carriers have also begun voicing concerns over the logjam.

“Chittagong port is currently experiencing berth congestion and high container yard density,” Hapag-Lloyd told customers. “As a result, vessels are facing average waiting times of six to seven days before berthing, with the average port stay for vessels around four days.”

The German carrier also noted that, with feeder schedules and cargo operations crippled, customers should plan their cargo handovers in tandem with confirmed vessel schedules and availability, as cut-off times remain wobbly.

Meanwhile, the updated 35% tariff threatened by US president Donald Trump on Bangladesh garment imports, set to begin on 1 August, is now believed to have cast a dark shadow of uncertainty for Dhaka’s economic lifeline apparel industry verticals.

Factories in Bangladesh are already reporting order cancellations and a dearth of fresh sourcing from US importers, and “buying houses are also pushing exporters for significant price adjustments”, one ready-made garment (RMG) exporter source said.

Fearing the potential pressure on goods intake, many manufacturing units have shut down or scaled back production, the source added.

Global retailer giant Walmart is said to have paused its garment purchase orders with Bangladeshi factories due to the tariff.

And the higher tariff rate is not the only plight for Bangladesh RMG exporters, as they now need to comply with another trade prerequisite: a minimum 40% ‘local value addition’ – an issue linked to the rising scale of Chinese investment in Bangladesh.

That threshold poses a serious hurdle for the local industry, especially for the woven garment segment, as a large portion of fabric used is traditionally sourced from China, unlike the knitwear sector.

Bangladesh is claimed to be the third-largest RMG exporter to the US, after China and Vietnam.  The subcontinent country’s apparel exports to the US in fiscal year 2023-24 stood at some $7.6bn, representing some 17% of its exports during the year, according to available data.

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