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Truck weight limit between Chittagong and Dhaka temporarily suspended

THE Bangladesh government has bowed to pressure from the business community and has suspended a new axle load policy for three months, until March 15, as the policy had affected the movement of forty-foot container units (FEU) on the Chittagong-Dhaka highway.

The government had imposed the policy in December 1, for TEU and FEU container movement, arguing these vehicles were overweight and damaged roads quickly, leading to frequent road repair.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority had recently revised the previous weight limit and extended the weight to 35 tonnes for TEU-laden trucks and 44 tonnes for FEU-laden trucks.

However, businesses had strongly protested the weight limit decision. The Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) sought immediate suspension of the new order, as FEU container movement was almost halted due to the constraining weight limit.

CCCI president Mahbubul Alam was happy because the government responded to the group's demand, cognizant of the country's export-import activities, IHS Media reported.

However, he said after March 15 the import of FEU containers in Bangladesh will decline substantially, and TEU container traffic will increase substantially, due to the weight limit.

"The existing container carrying capacity by rail from Chittagong to Dhaka is very little. We have to raise rail container capacity as an appropriate solution," Mr Alam said. "The weight won't be a factor in case of rail container carriage. Costs will also go down."

Each day, nearly 3,000 containers are transported across the country from the Port of Chittagong and 17 inland container depots or off-docks. Of the total, about 2,000 are FEU and the rest are TEU. Currently, a majority are transported via the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.